Perseids Meteor Shower 2015 live stream – Peak times, Viewing tips and what makes the cosmic show special

Flying shard of cosmic debris will fall to earth in glorious fashion as the annual Perseid meteor shows lights up the sky Wednesday night.

The grain-sized shooting stars promise to put on an illuminative spectacle worth losing a few winks of sleep over, especially without a full moon getting in the way.

"You should expect to see 90 meteors an hour if you concentrate on looking straight overhead. That's about three meteors every two minutes," wrote Space.com's Geoff Gaherty. "This year's Perseid shower is particularly good because the peak falls just after midnight local time for observers in the eastern half of North America, and the moon is close to new and doesn't rise until after 5 a.m."

Jupiter's positioning, however, will make for a better overall view as the planet's gravitational field will nudge Perseid particles closer to earth. Either way, finding a good viewing spot is a simple as laying on the ground and looking up.

With the lack of serious precipitation tonight, looking for the cosmic lightshow won't be hard. Weather forecasts for New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, among other major cities, call for clear skies with little cloud coverage until the weekend.

"The darker your skies, the better chance you'll have of catching the faint meteors. Under polluted skies, you will see far fewer meteors, as only the brightest ones can be seen," Gaherty said, adding that "It's important to spend at least 20 minutes under a dark sky so that your eyes get fully adapted to the dark."

Perseids - named after both the Perseus constellation and the Greek hero who beheaded Medusa - radiate in the northeastern sky, meaning the best directions to look are northwest and southeast. Seeing the meteors streak across the sky will require nothing more than your 20/20 vision.

If meteors aren't always visible, be patient. Some observers may only be able to see portions of the show, depending on their proximity to light. This is why finding a spot void of glaring lights. Drive out far enough as to where nothing, not even building or trees, attract light or hinder your view.

"An interesting project is to equip yourself with a star chart of the direction you plan to observe, and then to plot the meteors you see on that chart," Gaherty writes. "If you observe continuously for more than an hour, you should be able to confirm that the radiant is in Perseus.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will live stream the shower beginning at 10 p.m. EST. Similarly, the Slooth Observatory will stream from their point of view beginning at 1 a.m.