One of the most reliable and observed meteor showers of the year reaches its peak late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

With a new moon coming Friday, the next two nights should offer a dark background for spectacular meteor viewing, assuming the clouds stay away.

The Perseid shower usually falls in the Perseus constellation located in the northeastern part of the sky.

Made of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are a prolific meteor shower named after the constellation Perseus.

Westbrook says the Perseids are associated with the Swift-Tuttle comet, a comet which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Those bits burn up as they hit our atmosphere and show up as flashes of light across the night sky. This will keep the overnight sky very dark allowing for more shooting stars to be visible.

Hundreds of meteors will streak across the sky tonight, with the best views expected in the Midlands and the North. The best thing is that you don’t need a telescope or any other instrument to enjoy the celestial fireworks.

As a general rule, the Perseid meteors tend to be few and far between at nightfall and early evening and the best time to look is just prior to dawn.

The Geminid meteor shower may have more meteors per hour, but that one happens in December and the weather usually doesn’t cooperate with us that time of year.

“Back in the medieval times the Perseids were called the tears of St. Lawrence because they are seen around the anniversary of the saint’s martyrdom – so that dates them”, MacRobert said.

Be patient. Give yourself anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour, and the streaking meteors should be easily spotted against the still night sky once your eyes are fully adjusted.