PERSEID METEOR SHOWER LIKELY TO BE DIMINISHED BY FULL MOON.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer

Stargazers hoping to be awed by the summer's largest meteor shower will be mostly moonstruck instead.

Astronomers say the annual Perseid meteor shower -- seen Friday and Saturday -- will be all but obliterated by a nearly full moon.

``It will light up the sky, so the only meteors people will be able to see are just the very brightest ones,'' said Patrick So, an astronomer for Griffith Observatory who has decided not to set his alarm for the event. ``All the lesser ones will be drowned out.''

A favorite of summer campers, the Perseid meteor shower has wowed sky-watchers for eons. Each August, Perseids radiate out of the constellation Perseus at a rate of between 60 and 80 an hour.

But this year, a waning gibbous moon, which turns full today, will hang low in the sky like a radiant lantern near Perseus.

Instead of a meteor shower, viewers in remote areas might see a shooting star trickle of around 20 to 25 meteors an hour, So said. Because of haze and light pollution, city night owls could only see 10 to 15 an hour.

The Perseids -- which will peak at 4 p.m. Saturday -- are visible from Friday night to early Saturday morning, and best seen just before dawn.

``We're not going to get up. It's not worth it,'' said Bob Alborzian, a Burbank lecturer with The Sidewalk Astronomers, Los Angeles chapter. ``It would be useless. You may see one or two meteors if they are large, but the majority, nothing doing.''

Next year, a moonless sky is expected to give Northern Hemisphere sky buffs a clear shot at the Perseids.

On Nov. 16-17, the Leonid meteor shower is expected to rain shooting stars at 15 to 25 per hour. But shooting star buffs are pointing toward the annual Geminid meteor bonanza, expected to peak Dec. 14 at 100 meteors per hour.

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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