If you've never seen a shooting star you're in luck. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak between Thursday night and Friday morning, and it should be a great show this year.

Vance Petriew, President of the Royal Canadian Astronomical Society's Regina branch, said the shower might actually turn into a storm.

"An average shower is about 60 meteors per hour," explained Petriew. But this year, they're predicting 100 plus meteors an hour.

"They usually call it a meteor storm once we get to 100 meteors an hour or more, So there's a potential for this to be called Perseid meteor storm," said Petriew.

Perseid showers typically last from July 17 to Aug. 22, but the last meteor storm he can remember was in 2009.

Meteors from the Perseid meteor swarm burn up in the atmosphere over the German island of Fehmarn, Germany, early Aug. 13, 2015. This year, an 'outburst' is predicted to double the number of visible meteors during the peak of the Perseids, Aug. 11-12. (Daniel Reinhardt/EPA)

The phenomenon occurs when the Swift-Tuttle comet goes around the sun, leaving a trail of dust. While in space the dust shifts and moves.

"This year they're predicting that Jupiter slightly moved one [of the trails] and we are going to come and partially impact one of these trails," said Petriew.

Just to be clear, when he refers to "we" he means "Earth."

Petriew said it's not uncommon for Jupiter to be the main gravity attractor in our solar system, altering the orbit of asteroid belts or comets. In fact, Jupiter's gravitational pull brought a comet into Petriew's telescope sights on an August night in 2001.

White City's Vance Petriew is well-known in the astronomy community after discovering a comet in 2001. The comet now bears his name. (CBC)

Awake at 3:00 a.m. he was testing out his new telescope when he saw a fuzzy object. He tried to identify it, could find no other record of it, recorded the observation and phoned it in via pay-phone to the International Astronomical Union in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With that the comet 185P/Petriew was discovered, the first comet to ever be discovered in Saskatchewan.

Best time to watch

The best time to see the meteors is after midnight on Aug. 11, when the moon has gone down, but you will be able to see meteors all night and through the early morning on Aug. 12.

For those hoping to see the shower – or storm, potentially – Petriew advises that you head out of town heading east, and if you can make it to a dark sky preserve.

Weather permitting you'll be in for a great time, said Petriew. "Keep your eyes peeled and enjoy the show! It's awesome."