By Lenita Powers, Reno Gazette-Journal

They’re fast, they’re bright and they’ll put on a free show in the nighttime sky in the next couple of days for Nevadans willing to give up an hour or two of sleep.

The Perseid meteor shower that shoots across the summer sky each year will be at its most prolific Thursday night and Friday morning, said amateur astronomer Tony Berendsen, owner of Tahoe Star Tours.

“The best time will be Thursday from 1 to 2 o’clock in the morning, but you don’t have to wait until 1 a.m.,” he said. “At 11 p.m., you can look high to the northeast, and you should see some meteors. You also can see them in the early morning any time before 4 a.m.”

The number of meteors have been increasing for the last couple of weeks and will peak Thursday and Friday, usually with more than 60 meteors per hour and sometimes up to 100, he said.

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