JACKSON, Wyo. — The annual Perseid meteor shower will light up Wyoming skies over the weekend, peaking August 11 to 13.

The annual meteor shower is caused by dust trains from the Swift-Tuttle comet. The debris enters the earth’s atmosphere and burns up due to the friction with the air, creating a meteor shower, or shooting stars.

This weekend, the show is expected to be extra special because the light from the waning crescent moon will have little interference. The moon will only be at about 18% illumination on Friday, 12% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday. The new moon is Wednesday, Aug. 16.

The best time to see the meteor shower is after midnight, and according to the American Meteor Society, 4 a.m. on Aug. 13 is the peak with 100 Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR). ZHR is the average maximum number of meteors visible per hour.

The meteor shower began on July 14 and has steadily increased up until the peak, and will slowly fade in intensity until Sept. 1.

“The first record of the Perseid meteor shower comes from a Chinese manuscript written in A.D. 36,” says the Old Farmer’s Almanac. “The Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli linked the Perseid shower to Comet Swift-Tuttle in 1866, four years after the comet was detected by modern astronomers.”

If you snap photos of the shower this weekend, we’d love to feature them in an upcoming Buckrail SNAPPED. Send images to tips@buckrail.com.

Lindsay is a contributing reporter covering a little bit of everything; with an interest in local policies and politics, the environment and amplifying community voices. She's curious about uncovering the "whys" of our region and aims to inform the community about the issues that matter. In her free time, you can find her snowboarding, cooking or planning the next surf trip.