Clear skies, warm weather in store to enjoy the peak of the Perseids meteor shower

While a supermoon is expected to wash out all but the very brightest of this year's Perseids meteor shower, astronomy experts say if you choose your spot well, you will still be able to enjoy it.

The Perseids meteor shower is expected to peak on Aug. 12 and 13 and that is when the best viewing period will be.

Gary Boyle, educator and writer with the Wonders of Astronomy, says a comet that last passed through the solar system 30 years ago causes the phenomenon.

"A meteor shower is caused by a comet's debris – we're plowing through the dusty tail of comet Swift-Tuttle that last went around the sun and moon in 1992," he said in an interview with CTV News on Thursday.

"Just like going through a rain storm or hitting a cloud of bugs in the summertime with your windshield, we're just going through the thickest part of the cloud which usually gives us about 90 meteors per hour – but it'll be a little different this year because of the moon."

This year, August's moon is full, large and very bright – enough to make it like there are city lights on even out in rural areas.

"That 90 per hour will dwindle to about 20 or 30 of the brighter ones," Boyle said, adding that even without the full show, it's still a good time to get outside.

There are three planets visible each night, Boyle says – Saturn, which is most visible at sunset, then two hours later Jupiter and two hours after that, he says Mars will be visible.

However, you likely won't be able to see anything while within city limits, he says.

"It's best to get outdoors, away from city lights if you can, out in the countryside to get that full 360-degree terrain."

Boyle says that while the meteors do come from the northeast, they could streak through the atmosphere at 60 km/s "in any and all directions."

"That's why, if you have different people looking in different directions, someone's bound to see something."

More information on stargazing in southern Alberta can be found online.