Perseid
Astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of 2004 August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which captured meteor flashes, he produced this dramatic view of the Perseids of summer. Although the comet dust particles are traveling parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. Fred Bruenjes/NASA

The Perseid Meteor Shower is set to dazzle the night sky this weekend.

The Perseid meteor shower comes to us around this time every year and forms when the Earth goes through a cloud of interplanetary dust left behind by a comet named Swift-Tuttle. As these specks are ejected throughout our atmosphere, a meteor shower occurs

It is named Perseid because the meteor shower points where they come from, which is the constellation Perseus. It has been observed for at least 2,000 years. The word comes from the Greek mythology term Perseides, which means sons of Perseus. Because of its meteors originating from its filament, Perseids is considered one of the best meteor showers of the year by many according to NASA.

The space agency says because of the moon, the rate of meteors will be 20-30 per hour at most. For best viewing, NASA recommends sky watchers check out the darkest parts of the sky. Do not look at the moon or anything bright in the sky. If the weather is cloudy or you live in a large metropolis like New York City - you're probably out of luck. Sorry.

Also, NASA says those who live in the Southern Hemisphere are probably not going to see much either. The Perseid radiant doesn't climb above the horizon.

When: The meteor shower is expected to start late Friday, Aug. 12 and into the early morning of Saturday, Aug 13. NASA is hosting a live chat at 11 p.m. EDT on Friday that will run to 5:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Typically, meteor showers start after midnight. The peak hour is usually 3-4 a.m. EDT.

In addition to your own backyard, NASA is offering several live feeds of cameras that will catch the meteor shower. There will be the official NASA feed, mounted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. That feed will be available at NASA.com on NASA TV.

There are several other options for a live video feed as well which are listed below.

Sandia Sentinel Fireball Camera Network, El Paso, Texas (NMSU All Sky Camera Network)

Sandia Sentinel Fireball Camera Network, Hawley, Texas

Oak Grove Observatory, Prairieville, La.

New Mexico Skies Observatories, Mayhill, N.M.

MMTO Sky Camera, Tuscon, Ariz.

Twin Pines Observatory, Belmont, Calif.

Lick Observatory All-Sky Camera, Mount Hamilton, Calif.

Meadow View Observatory, Chico, Calif.

Shane Observatory AllSky Camera, Prince George BC, Canada

RASC Prince George Centre AllSky Camera, Prince George BC, Canada

Paul Beskeen Astrophotography, Cambridgeshire, U.K.

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