Never seen stars falling out of the sky? Well, now’s the time! There is a meteor shower tonight!

According to The Times of India, the Leonid meteor shower is supposed to begin around midnight tonight (and peak for North American viewers at around 4-5 a.m. EST) and continue until early Wednesday morning. Asia is going to have a particularly great view of the shower, but North America will still be able to see it. Fortunately, the moon will be out of the way tonight and not impede viewing. However, New Yorkers still unfortunately have to battle the city lights.

The Leonids have received their name because they are located in the same section of the sky as the Leo constellation.

The Times quotes a senior scientist at Gujarat Science City, Narottam Sahoo, who said that the “Leonid shower is one of the most prominent meteor showers. It produces an average of 40 meteors per hour during peak time. The shower itself has a cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. The last such event occurred in 2001.”

“As the night progresses, the number of meteors is expected to rise, and if the forecast timings are accurate, the activity may peak during early hours on Wednesday, perhaps even hundreds per hour. But this time the meteors will be much faster and for shorter duration,” Sahoo said. However, this peak time will be during the afternoon in the U.S., so we will not be able to see it.

So drop your books, forget your homework, and go watch the shooting stars!

UPDATE:

According to Space.com, these are the best viewing times:

“Earth will pass through one of the denser debris streams at around 4 a.m. EST (1 a.m. PST) Tuesday. If you have only an hour or less to watch, center it around this time. Leo will be high in the sky for East Coast skywatchers, putting more meteors into view. In the West, Leo will be low in the eastern sky at this time, so fewer shooting stars will be above the horizon, and therefore Western skywatchers should also try to stick it out until daybreak. Across Europe, the best bet is to watch anytime between 1 a.m. and daybreak local time.”