The Perseid Meteor Shower, the most popular meteor shower of the year, will reach its peak in the coming days.

Luckily for us here in western Nevada County, we aren't bogged down by the artificial city lights that many urban areas have, giving us some great local spots to view the show.

In a space.com. report, according to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, the Perseids has typical rates of about 80 meteors an hour.

This year the meteor shower's actual peak is around 10 a.m. Saturday,  Aug. 12, which means that the night before and the night after will both be great for meteor watchers.

The shower may be slightly better in the predawn hours of Aug. 12, but there will be a decent showing both nights.

Cooke says the key to seeing the meteor show is to go to a dark area prior to the shower's peak and sit outside for an hour or so. The eyes take around 30 minutes to adjust to the dark, so the longer you wait outside the more of the celestial show you will see.