August 12th and 13th is going to be prime time to shoot some spectacular night photography! The Perseids meteor shower is hitting it's peak on August 12, and it promises to be the year's most spectacular sky show.

This year's Perseid shower is occuring on the same night as the New Moon, and therefore have the perfect night sky to be seen against because there will be no moonlight to outshine them. They are some of the earliest recorded meteor's in history, noted by Chinese historians a millenium ago. They occur as Earth passes through the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which it is doing right now.

The best time to watch is from 11 p.m. August 12 until dawn the next morning. Viewing the Perseids is more favorable if you are in the northern hemisphere. If you live out in the country, away from city lights - you may see up to one meteor per minute on average, with minor meteor showers in between. Sometimes you can even see fireballs as meteors called "earthgrazers" come in low on the horizon.

Also, there will be a total lunar eclipse on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007! California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, Alaska, Hawaii and the western parts of Nevada and the Northwest Territories will see the eclipse in its totality. But it is not visible at all from Europe, Africa, the Middle East or near Asia. It won't start until 1:00 a.m. Pacific, and end around 3:00 a.m. Pacific... so only the brave souls not sleeping will see it.

So if you like experimenting with night shots of the starlit sky, now is the time to brew up a pot of coffee, get your cameras ready, and wait for the show to begin! Here are a few links that give tips on what to do for optimum results with night photography:

Space.com - Meteor Shower Photography: [link]

PopPhoto.com - Astrophotography 101: [link]

MrEclipse.com - Lunar Photography: [link]