Perseid Meteor Shower 2017: What it is, when it's happening and where to watch it

In less than a few days, one of the year's best shooting star displays will peak in the United States.

Known as the Perseid meteor shower, the celestial event occurs annually and at its peak is easily one of the most impressive and most popular showers of the year.

The shower is expected to see at least 80 meteors fall every hour -- which can be visible to the naked eye if weather conditions permit. The "shooting stars" will be seen coming from the constellation Perseus, which is where the constellation gets its name.

See photos of the Perseid Meteor Shower

This year, the shower runs from July 13 to August 26. The Perseids will peak from August 11-13 during the late evening and early morning hours, EarthSky.org reports.

Some rumors have suggested the conditions will produce the greatest numbers of meteors per hour since 1921 -- but experts have called the claim baloney.

"This year, we are expecting enhanced rates of about 150 per hour or so, but the increased number will be cancelled out by the bright Moon, the light of which will wash out the fainter Perseids," Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, wrote in a blog post earlier this month. "A meteor every couple of minutes is good, and certainly worth going outside to look, but it is hardly the 'brightest shower in human history.'"

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The best way to see this year's shower, given current weather conditions, is to step outside sometime between midnight and sunrise.

If you're worried about where to stand and what time to catch all the action, check out this moonrise and moonset calculator.