Perseids Meteor Shower 2012: Peaks Saturday Over Michigan

The Perseids Meteor Shower 2012 is the ideal chance to make your wishes as it may be possible to see a few dozen meteors per hour at the shower's peak, according to StarDate.

If it's cloudless, you can see the annual meteor shower any night this week. Space.com tells us these objects are tiny bits of rock and debris from an old comet, which is named Swift-Tuttle after the astronomers who discovered it in 1862.

The shower splashes through the sky every year in early August when Earth passes through the comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit and sweeps up some of this debris. We see shooting stars -- rapid streaks of light -- as the tiny rocks encounter the thin upper atmosphere of the Earth and the air is heated to incandescence.

For the geeks among us, here's some trivia: The Perseids get their name from Perseus, the constellation from which they seem to emanate, but they can appear anywhere in the sky. Their only connection with Perseus is that, if you trace their path backward across the sky, eventually you get to Perseus.

This bit of advice from Space.com

If you don't see any meteors at first, be patient. This is a meteor shower, not a meteor storm. There will be a lot more meteors than you would see on a normal night, but they will still only come at random intervals, perhaps 20 or 30 in an hour.

When you do see a meteor, it will likely be very fast and at the edge of your field of vision. You may even doubt that what you saw was real. But, when you do see something, watch that area more closely, as two or three meteors often come in groups down the same track.

To have the best chance at seeing the meteors, get to any place not heavily polluted by city lights. Althought not during the peak time, the Lake Hudson Recreation Area is having "Meteors & S'mores" Sunday, Aug. 12, from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. Park officials recommend bringing a blanket or lawn chair. S'mores will be provided by the park and people will be there to explain the shower and answer any astronomy questions.

Wherever you are, take a glance at the skies to see the show!