This weekend one of the area’s best free shows takes place right over our heads. The Lyrid meteor shower lights up the sky on Saturday and Sunday nights. It looks like Washington will have perfect weather — warm temps and clear skies — to catch the bright trails of light created as Earth passes through the dusty tail of Comet Thatcher.

Though not as flashy as the more famous yearly Leonid and Perseid events, this shower can produce up to 25 shooting stars per hour. The best time to catch the show will be before dawn on Sunday and Monday mornings, when the moon is least bright, though any time after midnight you’ll be able to see a few meteor trails. Lyrids, so named because they appear in the constellation Lyra, are usually about at bright as stars in the Big Dipper. The meteors can be spotted in the eastern sky and are more visible the farther away from the city’s bright ambient light.

So if you’re having a run of bad luck and believe old superstitions, you’ll want to point your eyes to the heavens this weekend and get to wishing on a swarm of falling stars.

Photo by Flickr user Eye Captain.