‘Best meteor shower of the summer’ set for Tuesday night, Astronomy Ireland says
Eva Osborne
Astronomy Ireland is alerting everyone in Ireland to the peak activity of the best meteor shower of the summer, 'The Perseids'.
Editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine, David Moore, said spectators can expect to see "20 times more shooting stars tonight than a normal night".
"There will be a bright Moon in the sky and this will drown out some of the faint meteors, but the most spectacular brighter ones will still be well seen so we are urging people to get the whole family out and watch this 'celestial fireworks' display provided by Mother Nature."
Perseid meteors can appear anywhere in the sky but their paths point back to the constellation (star-pattern) Perseus, which is in the north-east as seen from Ireland each evening.
Spectators will need to wait until the sky is quite dark, and are urged to try and view as late as they can.
Some Perseid meteors can be extremely bright and leave glow trails behind them. 20 Perseids per hour should be visible even with the strong moonlight.
"It is best to stand with your back to the Moon and look half way up the sky" Moore said.
