On Display Tonight: The Year’s Best Meteor Shower

The universe made this special for you. Aren't you going to watch? Photo: SEBASTIAN DERUNGS/AFP/Getty Images

The planets are aligning (yes, literally) for the annual Perseid meteor shower. Tonight, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and the crescent moon will converge in the Western sky. Around 10:30 (local time) once the moon starts setting and the sky turns dark, you should be able to see shooting stars, caused when dust and debris left by the Swift-Tuttle comet collide with the Earth's atmosphere and burn up. Perhaps we will not have a cocktail and watch bad television as we had originally planned! [Wired]