Stargazers prep for Perseid meteor shower this weekend

Don't look for birds or planes this weekend, look for meteors!

Stargazers can expect to see the Perseidmeteor showerracing across the night sky on Saturday, Aug. 12, into the early morning of Aug. 13.

Chris Vessey is one of the stargazers viewing the shower this weekend. He's a member of the Sidewalk Astronomers of Charlottetown a group of locals who meet outside, set up their telescopes and invite the public look to peek into the night sky.

Vesseydropped byMainstreetto give listeners some tips on how to view one of the most popular meteor showers of the year.

1. Head outside the city

"If you're going to look for this, you want to be in dark skies," Vessey said. "If you'rehere in Charlottetown, you're gonna find it very washed out, you're not going to see very much."

"Go to a very dark location, somewhere up on the North Shore."

Take some blankets, Vesseyadded, you're going to want to be nice and warm asthe shower could go past 2 a.m.

2. Lie back and use your eyes

"Lie back, don't use binoculars or a telescope because you will not see anything."

"These things move very fast."

3. Look up high and look to the north

Whip out the compassand look north-northeast around 22 degrees up"very close to the constellationPerseus," Vessey said.

"It's actually closer to another constellation, Camelopardalis, technically,but nobody knows that one it'sthe giraffe constellation, nobody is looking for that."

Stargazers can expect to see around "two to three [meteors] per minute,"Vessey estimates, into early Sunday morning.

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