How to watch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower tonight

The sky will shine bright on Monday night as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak. The annual phenomenon started in July, but will be most active in the early hours of August 13, NASA reports in a blog post.

So what is the Perseid meteor shower? The shower is the result of debris from comet Swift-Tuttle, which may fall at a rate of 60 meteors per hour, says NASA. The shower derives its name from the part of the sky where it originates, near the constellation Perseus.

There's no need to look at a particular part of the sky to watch the shower, and telescopes and binoculars are not recommended. NASA recommends letting your eyes adjust to the dark for 30 minutes beforehand. But as tonight's moon is nearing full, the light may reduce visibility to 15 - 20 meteors per hour. For the best show, try to look in the darkest part of the sky between 2 a.m. local time and dawn.

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Don't worry if you can't see the shower due to light pollution (or you're just aiming to get your eight hours of sleep) because the NASA Meteor Watch Facebook page will be livestreaming the meteor shower starting at 8 p.m. ET. Read more at NASA.