On the nights of Saturday, Aug. 11 through Monday, Aug. 13, the best meteor shower of the year will fill predawn skies with hundreds of shooting stars.

And that’s just for starters. The brightest planets in the solar system are lining up right in the middle of the display.

The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the nights around Sunday, Aug. 12, as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle.

“We expect to see meteor rates as high as a hundred per hour,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “The Perseids always put on a good show.”

Perseids can be seen any time after 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. The best time to look, however, is during the dark hours immediately before dawn.

Also, advises Cooke, avoid city lights if possible. Faint meteors are easily lost in the urban glare. A visit to the countryside will typically triple the number of meteors you see.

This year’s display is extra-special because of the planets. Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon are gathering together just as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak.

The alignment occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise on the three mornings of highest meteor activity.

On Aug. 11, a 33 percent crescent Moon will glide by Jupiter, temporarily forming a bright pair directly above brilliant Venus.

Red-giant star Aldebaran will be there, too, adding a splash of color to the gathering.

On Aug. 12, the narrowing 24 percent crescent Moon will drop down between Jupiter and Venus. Together they make a bright three-point line in the sky, frequently bisected by shooting stars.

On Aug. 13, with the shower just beginning to wane, the planets put on their best show yet: The 17 percent crescent moon will pass less than 3 degrees from Venus as Jupiter hovers overhead.

Sky watchers say there’s nothing prettier than a close encounter between the slender crescent Moon and Venus – nothing, that is, except for the crescent Moon, Venus and a flurry of Perseids.

It’s only natural, while you’re watching a meteor shower like the Perseids, to count the number of shooting stars you see.

It turns out those numbers in your head are valuable. NASA wants them.

Meteor tallies gathered by amateur sky watchers can be used by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office to study and model the Perseid debris stream.

“We’ve developed an app for Android and iPhones to help amateur sky watchers count meteors in a scientific way and report the results to us,” says Cooke. “It’s called the ‘Meteor Counter’ and it’s available for free in the Android Marketplace and Apple’s App Store.”

For more news about the night sky and citizen science, please visit www.science.nasa.gov .

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.