It will be a fun date night with a spectacular view of the Leonid meteor shower, grazing the night skies starting Thursday night. .

Said to be one of the better showers to observed, the Leonid produces an average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak, so you would not have to worry about going home disappointed from the experience. In a good year, hundreds of meteors can be even seen each hour as the shower has a cyclic peak year every 33 years. Although this year will not be as impressive as the showers in 1933, it still offer a good viewing, and a perfect reason to stay late at night.

The best nights to watch the Leonids are on Nov. 17 and 18 as the shower usually peaks on these dates. But if you're lucky you might had the chance for a preview last Nov. 13. If you're busy tonight and on Friday, you can still catch it on Nov. 20.

Although this year, the nearly last quarter moon may obstruct your view on the faintest meteors, still the Leonids offers an excellent show. So here's how to maximize your meteor shower viewing:

Position yourself in the most open space you can find. This one is pretty obvious, for the same reason you have that television with that massive screen! Find a spot that will give you the widest view of the night sky so you won't miss a single falling meteor just because it fell behind a near-by building.

Find the darkest spot away from light pollution. If you live in the city, you know cities tend to suffer from light pollution, be it from your neighbor who never turns off the bedroom lights or from the all-instrusive billboard box lights. It's best to get yourself away from these bright lights, so you'll be able to see as much meteors as you can.

Look for the constellation Leo. The Leonids are so-named because it radiates near the constellation Leo, although they do not come from the constellation itself. It's best to look for the meteor shower near the constellation.

Set up shop early. The most beautiful meteors come early in the evening and right after the sun set. So if you want to impress your date, schedule your rendezvous around this time for a romantic touch to your evening. Past these period, you can still linger on for the shower's peak time!

Lie flat on your back. NASA Astronomer Bill Cooke suggests that the best way to watch a meteor show is to lie flat on your back. This way, Cooke says, you can look straight up and take in as much of the night sky as you can.