The Best Days for Viewing the Perseid Meteor Shower Are August 11-13th
The Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on August 11-13 when Earth transits the densest part of the debris stream, though you are able to see a few of the fireballs arriving now. NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network photographed this one on August 4th:
The Perseids produce more fireballs than any other annual meteor shower during the year.
As the Earth passes through the densest part of the debris cloud, meteor rates should skyrocket to ~100 Perseids per hour on August 11th-13th.
Watch a video of last year's Perseid Meteor Shower":
http://youtu.be/vroLnrBhbmk
Note: Additional information provided by spaceweather.com