The annual Perseid Meteor Shower reaches its peak Monday evening and it could be a promising night with a predicted 80 streaks of light an hour flashing through the sky.

Jim Goetz, the star party coordinator for the Royal Astronomical Society's Kitchener-Waterloo chapter said there could be quite an interstellar show.

"If you look at a certain part of the sky up in the north-east in the constellation Perseus, that's where the earth is heading," said Goetz.

"If you get enough [meteors] coming in, you get that star field effect and you feel like you're flying through space. You actually are, because of the earth moving through the tail."

The Perseids occur as a result of Earth passing through the path of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle as it orbits the sun.

The shower runs until Aug. 26 and is best seen after dark and before dawn.

But the moon and clouds could cause problems.

"A very bright moon washes out a lot of light," said Goetz. "The best time to see it is with no moon because it makes the sky darker."

The Royal Astronomical Society Kitchener Waterloo Centre is holding an event at the University of Waterloo with an astronomy lecture at the Optometry Building.

Goetz says they will observe The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn before the meteors show up after sunset.



