Catherine McWatters typically watches the Perseid meteor shower from the comfort of her Toronto backyard with friends.

The annual phenomenon is something the former astronomy educator looks forward to. But this year, due to the bright moon, she's not banking on a great view.

"Always when something interferes with something you want to observe, it's a sense of disappointment," she said.

The Perseid meteor shower typically takes place once a year when the Earth plows through the debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, sending it into our atmosphere. This year, the shower peaks overnight on Aug. 12-13 and is expected to produce as many as 100 meteors per hour.

The best conditions to see the shower are dark skies, clear of clouds and smoke.

Attention stargazers! It's time for one of the best mete

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