Here's how to watch the Perseid meteor shower 'outburst event' tonight
People in the darkest parts of Europe and North America with good weather are sure to get a great view of what could be the most impressive Perseid meteor shower since at least 2009 overnight on Thursday and into early Friday morning.
Some projections show meteor, or "shooting star," rates reaching as many as 200 per hour, which is about double the average for this shower.
The best way to see some of these meteors in person is to lie on your back as far away from lights as possible and get a good view of as much of the sky as you can, allowing about 45 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness.
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For tens of millions in the U.S. and abroad, the annual cosmic show will likely be partly to mostly blotted out by light pollution and cloudiness.
However, there's still hope for people in cities and bright suburbs, thanks to the internet.
NASA and other organizations are planning to host live webcasts of the Perseids, showing the meteors shooting through dark skies with expert commentary.
You can watch the webcasts live in the window below or directly through NASA.
The space agency will actually host two webcasts for the Perseids. One will air overnight from August 11 to August 12 starting at 10 p.m. ET, with the second webcast beginning at the same time 24 hours later. According to NASA, it's possible that there will also be heightened meteor activity on Friday night into Saturday morning.
The astronomy organization Slooh will also host a live webcast starting at 8 p.m. ET Thursday. You can watch that webcast directly through the organization.
According to some forecasts, this year, skywatchers in dark areas should be able to see up to 200 meteors per hour, especially in the early hours of Friday morning.
This possible "outburst" would be the result of Earth flying through a thicker-than-usual stream of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle as it makes its 133-year orbit of the sun.
Earth passes through ice and dust left behind by the comet each year at this time, creating the annual Perseid meteor shower, but sometimes -- like this year, if predictions hold -- Earth will fly through a thicker stream, bringing more chunks of icy rocks and other debris into the atmosphere than average for this shower.
As it encounters the atmosphere, it burns up, resulting in the shooting stars that we see.
"The meteors you’ll see this year are from comet flybys that occurred hundreds if not thousands of years ago,” NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said in a statement.
“And they’ve traveled billions of miles before their kamikaze run into Earth’s atmosphere.”
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
