The night sky should be filled with shooting stars over the next few days. That is because of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower.

Ken McAllister is a local skywatcher from Steinbach. He explains the Perseid is the most pleasant of meteor showers because it happens during one of the warmest periods of the year. It takes place each year in early August.

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Time-lapse of Perseid Meteor Shower. Photo credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)

Though often referred to as shooting stars, McAllister says the Perseids is actually a meteor shower; the result of a comet which the earth travels through once per year. As the earth moves past these dust particles, they resemble flashing lights.

According to McAllister, the timing of this year's meteor shower does not make for ideal viewing. Because August 15 is a full moon and because August 13 is expected to be the peak of the shower activity, McAllister says the sky will be too bright for optimum viewing pleasure. As a result, he suggests this weekend may be your best opportunity to catch a glimpse.

The best place to watch is probably outside city limits, suggests McAllister. He says because of the light pollution in Steinbach, you may want to travel out of the city to the southeast. And the best time to watch is during the wee hours of the morning, around 3 or 4 a.m.

McAllister says this year, on peak nights, there will probably be 20 to 30 shooting stars visible every hour. That number is down from the 60 per hour that have been visible in past years.

"These meteors can come from literally anywhere in the sky," says McAllister. "You just want to look up, you don't need any special equipment, don't need anything except just your own eyes."

Meanwhile, that is not the only spectacle in the sky worth watching these nights. McAllister says Jupiter is visible as the brightest light in the night sky, other than the moon. You can spot it with the naked eye, low in the southern sky. McAllister says with binoculars you can probably also spot as many as four of Jupiter's moons.