Olympics fans looking for another spectacle when the Games end this weekend should turn their attention skywards for the best shooting star shower of the year.
The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach peak activity on Monday night, August 12th, going into the early hours of August 13th, with 20 times more shooting stars than on a normal night, according to David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine.
“This is a free celestial fireworks display courtesy of Mother Nature, that is visible over nearly the entire planet,” said Mr Moore.
The Perseid meteors, shed by comet Swift-Tuttle, stage their show every August and are among the brightest of all shooting stars.
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The moon will have 50 per cent of its visible surface illuminated, and will be setting near midnight, leaving the sky as dark as possible for seeing the fainter meteors.
The Perseids will appear to spread in all directions from their radiant point in the constellation of Perseus, named after a hero of Greek mythology, and high in the northeast.
The showers have been active since July 17th, reaching peak activity on the 12th and continuing until around August 24th.
On August 12th, star watchers could, clear skies permitting, witness between 60 and 100 meteors an hour.
The Perseid meteors are caused by a swarm of tiny dust particles about the size of grains of sand, Mr Moore said.
“The comet has been around the sun hundreds or thousands of times and left debris all around its orbit” and was last seen in Irish skies in 1992, he said, but every August there is a strong meteor shower, and the particles “make an awesome sight to the naked eye that everyone can enjoy”.
Astronomy Ireland is urging people to go out on Monday night in particular and count how many Perseids they see every 15 minutes with the naked eye.
“Just wrap up well, grab a pencil and paper and count with the whole family. Such counts are fun but also have a great scientific value as this tells us how these meteor showers are developing over the years,” Mr Moore said.
Details about counting meteors and where to send the results are on the society’s website astronomy.ie.
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