The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers we get to see every summer, with up to 100 meteors per hour. This year the Moon will not interfere, so as long as the weather is clear we should get a good view. The peak this year is on Thursday, August 12, but meteors may be seen any time between July 17 and August 24.
To view the shower, it is best to go out in the early morning, between midnight and sunrise. Find a nice dark area where you can get an open view of the whole sky. Then just lay back and look up! Binoculars or a telescope won't help you here, so just use your eyes. While the shower is associated with the constellation Perseus, they may appear anywhere in the sky, so you don't necessarily need to know where Perseus is to see them.
The Perseids are debris left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle, which was last seen in 1992, and will return in 2126. Each time it comes close to the Sun it expels material that follows behind it in its orbit. When Earth passes through this trail, we get a meteor shower.
Science Snacks – Space Bites – All About Meteor Showers
Discover how and why Meteor Showers occur!
Note: This video references the Lyrid meteor shower, which occurs in April.