A Guide to Enjoying the Perseids Meteor Shower 2013 in St. Louis Park

With reporting by Beatrice Karnes and Todd Richissin.

The Perseid meteor shower is already underway and will continue through Aug. 24. The peak viewing in St. Louis Park will be Aug. 11–12, when stargazers will be able to see upward of 60 meteorites flash before them per hour.

According to Astronomy.com, the Perseid Meteor shower has some added bonuses this year: It will occur on a night when the moon is in its waning crescent phase, which means the moonlight will interfere only slightly with your view of the meteors.

Even better, you don't need a telescope. Just spread out a blanket, perhaps a late-night picnic, lay back and enjoy!  

Perseid Meteor Trivia:

• Mankind has looked up at the Perseids for nearly 2,000 years.
• The Perseids are remnants of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which orbits the sun every 133 years.
• These bits of comet "ice and dust" are more than 1,000 years old.
• These meteors travel 37 miles per second.
• The Perseids can be seen all over the sky, but the best viewing opportunities will be across the northern hemisphere.
• Those with sharp eyes will see that the meteors radiate from the direction of the constellation Perseus, which forms an inverted "Y" shape and is in the northeast.
• Some of the meteorites are as small as a grain of sand, but they have the kinetic energy of a nuclear bomb!
• If you see a very slow, bright object sailing across the sky, it's either a satellite or a Space Station.

So where can you enjoy the shower locally? It's best to find an area away from city lights, lie down and look up. As the meteor shower will probably be most visible as the night goes on, you might want to visit a friend who lives in a rural area to watch the shower.

If you're willing to travel, the Onan Observatory at Baylor Regional Park in Noorwood Young America just west of the Twin Cities is an option. The observatory is free to visit, but a parking pass is required to enter the park.