Here comes the Perseid meteor shower!

Many astronomical events have been foreseen for this period, but the Perseid meteor shower 2015 has definitely outrun them all.

This year’s Perseid meteor shower is recommended by NASA as “must-see” comet activity, hitting its peak August 12-13.

Earthsky says the best time for viewing is after midnight, when the meteors will pick up steam until the “wee hours before dawn”.

That’s when the best-known and typically most intense meteor shower, the Perseid shower, will occur. You and your family can “catch a falling star” with other viewers from the dark grounds of Cascade Township Park, southeast of Grand Rapids.

A meteor shower is caused by the Earth passing through the debris of a comet, in this case, the comet Swift-Tuttle.

The Perseids have been observed for about 2,000 years, with the earliest information on the meteor shower coming from the Far East. The shower received its name from the constellation Perseus. Here’s the breakdown of what you need to know to see the meteors.

Try to find a rural area away from city light pollution. The National Weather Service is calling for mostly clear skies Wednesday night with a low of 54 degrees and partly cloudy skies Thursday night with a low of about 62 degrees. The view of the Perseids is worth it from the suburbs as long as lights and obstructions are minimized as best you can. The Perseids combine with the Delta Aquarid shower (above) to produce a dazzling display of shooting stars on what are, for us in the N. Hemisphere, warm summer nights.

Perseid meteors above Greece in 2013.

The meteors can be seen in all parts of the sky, so it’s good to be in a wide open space where you can scan the night sky with your eyes – binoculars or telescopes are not needed. Most are then vaporized by the heat of the air friction, forming the white-hot streaks we see as meteors. Having someone along can help pass time, and an extra pair of eyes helps with scanning the sky so you don’t miss anything. It’s a reliable shower especially when there’s no moon in the sky, so it’s well worth taking a look.

To locate meteors, observers should look in the direction of the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky to the left of the prominent Pleiades star cluster, said American Meteor Society spokesman Vincent Perlerin. You will see two or three times the number of meteors by going just a few miles out of town.