How to watch Perseid meteor shower in Michigan: when is peak, where to look

The Perseid meteor shower will be visible this weekend.
Peak activity is expected Saturday night into early Sunday
The annual shower lasts the month of August

This weekend could be the best opportunity to see meteors without a telescope, as the Perseid meteor shower is one of the few visible in the summer and is expected to peak Saturday night.

At least one meteor is expected to appear every minute or so, as Perseid’s zenithal hourly rate — a measure of how many meteors can be seen in an hour — is 100. Typically, meteor showers have a rate of 5 or less.

Meteors— little pieces of rock or dust that fall through the atmosphere — occur when comets orbiting the sun leave behind debris. The fragments become visible when they are about 60 miles from the ground.

Related:

Earth is currently passing through dust and debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet, which at 16 miles wide is the largest object known to regularly pass by the planet.

Here’s what you need to know about how to see the light show.

What makes the Perseid shower so special?

The shower occurs every August, but last year’s full moon made viewing tough. This year, the moon is in the crescent phase, so it won’t be as bright, making the shower more visible.

Peak viewing is expected Saturday night until about 4 a.m. Sunday.

“Right now, it will be a 10 percent illuminated moon waning crescent. So it won’t be rising until almost 4 a.m. which means we won’t have any light for a good chunk of those early hour early morning hours,” said Shannon Schmoll planetarium manager for Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.

Where is the best place to go to see it?

The countryside best, but if you can’t make it there, anywhere away from the urban areas with a lot of light pollution.

Bright lights make the shower harder to see.

How to spot it.

The meteors can be seen from anywhere in the sky, but they will appear in the northern sky near the constellation Perseus.