With few clouds and no rain in sight, night-sky gazers will have a pretty clear view of the Perseid meteor shower. The naturally occurring light-show hits skies tonight.

Each August, the Earth passes through the little bits of dust and gravel that fall from the comet Swift-Tuttle. And that produces one of the most reliable meteor showers, the Perseid. Mark Hammergren is an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium. He says the best time to watch for meteors is between midnight and a little after sunrise tomorrow.

HAMMERGREN: As the night precedes and we get closer to morning, the earth has turned around, so the meteors will be hitting us more head-on, that means we’ll see more of them, kind of like when you’re driving through a snow shower, all the snowflakes are streaming right at you.

Hammergren says any place with an open view of the sky that’s away from streetlights is a good spot. In a really dark area, amateur astronomers can see as many as 60 meteors per hour.