The Perseids are the stars this weekend as the moon wanes. Here’s where to see them in the Philly region.

The Perseid meteor showers streak through the night sky around this time every August, but this year their peak is arriving at a fortuitous conjunction — on a weekend, and with barely a cuticle of moon to interfere with the show.

The sky conditions won’t be perfect, but they should allow for some late-night meteor viewing Saturday and Sunday nights.

You might say that the coincidence of a Perseid peak’s coinciding with a fading moon is something that happens “once in a blue moon,” and that’s particularly relevant in this case.

Disregard some of those outsized estimates of meteor numbers that defy ground and sky truth, advises Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office, who has been meteor-watching for 50 years.

Realistically, he says, in a reasonably dark, open area with the Milky Way visible, one might see as many as 40 to 50 meteors an hour at the absolute peak early Sunday.

» READ MORE: Here are some tips for star-gazing around Philly

In developed areas, where one can make out the Big Dipper, the hourly number would be closer to eight to 10. In Center City, where the night sky is essentially a rumor, take what you can get and derive some pleasure from knowing that a remarkable cosmic event is unfolding way overhead.

The Perseids derive their name from the fact that they appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus, which is about 250 million light years away and has nothing to do with the spectacle.

Annually during its orbit around the sun, our planet encounters the remnants of the comet Swift-Tuttle, named for its 19th-century discoverers.

Most of its debris consists of icy particles no bigger than sand grains, but when they enter our atmosphere, 50 to 75 miles up, they can set off a magic show as they hurtle toward the surface at 130,000 mph and become incandescent.

The meteors appear as streaks in the sky, in all directions, like celestial fireflies.

Some of the fragments consist of rocky or metallic material, and on occasion that may burst into fireballs and perhaps make it to the Earth’s surface, in which case they are called meteorites.

No need to wear a helmet, however. According to Astronomy.com, researchers estimate that statistically a space rock should hit a human being about once every nine years. With about eight billion people on the planet, those aren’t terrible odds.

Cooke says most of them fizz out before they get within 50 miles of Earth.

NASA cameras picked up a Perseid meteor back on July 26, and they will be around until the end of August.

However, they are due to reach their peak early Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and we do mean early, as in the hours before first light, although some will be visible before conventional bedtimes.

As the planet rotates, Perseus — in this case, “the radiant” — appears above the horizon about 10 p.m. and Earth turns toward the heavier meteor traffic overnight.

The show typically gets going about 11 p.m., and gains in intensity toward daybreak. Cooke estimates that the absolute peak would be between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

The late-night skies should allow for some viewing Saturday and Sunday, however the forecasts are calling for more cloud interference during the early-morning hours.

» READ MORE: Some Pa. towns are battling light pollution

This is the hard part.

You want an area away from trees and buildings with minimal light interference.

If you really want a dark sky, the place to be would be Cherry Springs State Park, in Coudersport, Pa., celebrated by skywatchers nationwide as a refuge from light pollution. But that’s a five-hour drive from Philly, and it’s likely to be mighty crowded up that way this weekend.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania does have a celebrate dark-sky spot.

Locally, here are a few options, all free:

Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer and director of the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute recommends driving toward Cape May, but not all the way.

He avoids the beach, where water vapor is prone to veil the night skies. Ideally you want the air bone dry, as it would be in the desert Southwest. Take Route 55 to 40, and along Route 40 you’ll find side roads beneath dark skies.

» READ MORE: For star-gazing, Philly is not Arizona

The Aug. 30 full moon — a super-size “super moon” making its closest approach of the year — is also a blue moon, meaning it’s the second of the month. The first was on Aug. 1

Because the Perseid peak is occurring toward the middle of the lunar cycle, the moon will be a waning crescent this weekend on its way to temporary obscurity.

Meteor watchers can be grateful.