The year's most reliable meteor shower peaks the night of Wednesday, Aug. 12 into pre-dawn Thursday, Aug. 13 — and a new moon leaves the sky dark. Best window: 11 p.m. to dawn, somewhere away from city lights.

The Perseids — the year's most reliable meteor shower — hit their maximum the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 12, running into the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, Aug. 13. And for once the moon cooperates: a new moon on Wednesday leaves California skies dark, according to SFGATE. That's the whole reason to care this year. No moonlight washing out the show means 2026 is an unusually good one.

Under good conditions the shower throws off 50 to 100 streaks an hour, plus the occasional "fireball" — an exceptionally bright meteor. The debris comes from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, whose trail Earth crosses every August. "It's everybody's best chance to actually see little meteors, big meteors, fireballs streaking across the sky," Bruce Macintosh, director of UC Observatories and an astronomy professor at UC Santa Cruz, told SFGATE.

When: roughly 11 p.m. Wednesday until dawn. What to bring: nothing — no telescope, no binoculars, just lie back with a full view of the sky. NASA recommends giving your eyes 30 minutes to adjust to the dark.

Where: you don't need true wilderness. Macintosh told SFGATE that getting "a little bit into the hills or a park that's a little bit away from city lights" is plenty — think the East Bay ridgelines, Mount Tam, or a Peninsula open-space preserve over your backyard in the flats.

One catch: forecasters flagged a weak disturbance sliding through the Central Coast south of San Francisco, so check your local sky before committing to the drive. If it's clear, the move is simple — get somewhere dark, look up, and be patient.