Astronomy buffs will be treated to a cosmic light show Thursday night as our planet crosses a stream of meteoroids. As our planet approach this stream, thousands of meteorites will streak light upon the sky as they burn up in our atmosphere.

The Leonids are known to be a bright annual meteor shower with visible meteorites that can be seen by the naked eye, although this year would be less visible than previous years because of the moon being in its third quarter and other factors such as light pollution. The shower itself lasts for weeks but its peak is Thursday and Friday from midnight until 3 a.m. If you can't get yourself to stay awake you could get to see a glimpse of the shower before moonrise if you are lucky.

Meteors, commonly known to others as shooting stars, are mostly debris from comets that has passed through the Earth's path and pulled by its gravity. Its light comes from it burning up upon entry through the Earth's atmosphere. This particular meteor shower are debris from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was first observed in 1366.

The shower can be spotted all over the sky but appear from Earth to originate from the constellation of Leo. Ten to 20 meteors are expected to be spotted each hour most of the time the Leonid shower comes. Every 33 years, large amount of meteors come down and are known as meteor storm. The last meteor storm during the Leonid shower was in 1999.

Spectators who want to see the shower are advised to find a dark place far away from light pollution like the city. Stargazers also need to come 45 minutes early to get familiar with the dark and don't bring any light source as any bright light will reset your night-vision and have to wait in the dark for another 45 minutes to regain it.

Amateur photographers looking for great photographs should take their SLR cameras and the widest lens they have. Set it in the highest ISO setting they could with a shutter speed of 5 to 30 seconds and point away from the moon as much as possible. Bring a tripod and a remote shutter for stability.

Also READ: The Best Way to Watch the Leonid Meteor Shower