Head west for shooting stars

The Leonid meteor showers arrive tonight, but half of Ireland is likely to miss this shooting star display completely. Those in the west should be able to watch any meteors that pepper the night sky, but the east and midlands are expected to be blanketed by cloud, according to Met Eireann.

The Leonid meteor showers come every November but astronomers have predicted they will be particularly active this year and possibly next. A shooting star might be seen once every few minutes on average but the Leonids can dump hundreds and even thousands of meteors per minute into the night sky. Ireland is very unlikely to see such a dramatic display of shooting stars, although certainly we will be getting many more than on a typical night. The Far East is set to get the best of the Leonids show, according to the astronomers who can predict such things.

Meteors are tiny bits of space dust and dirt that get picked up by the earth as it orbits the sun. The particles, some as large as a pea but most only the size of a grain of sand, burn up as they enter the atmosphere at high speed, flaring white hot before disintegrating 50 miles overhead.

The effect creates a shooting star, tracing a faint line across the dark sky lasting anything up to about a second. One or two a minute would not be very interesting but the Leonids can put on a spectacular, as they did in 1833 when the sky over the eastern US lit up like a Christmas tree. The Far East could be in for just such a treat.

The Leonids are actually the dust trail left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle which orbits the sun every 33 years. The earth passes through this trail each November.

What we get to see depends very much on what the weather does and how late we decide to stay up. The eastern seaboard and the midlands are expected to be under cloud this evening at around 10.30 p.m. when the shooting star numbers should start to rise. West Connacht and Munster should have relatively clear skies however, with only a few showers about, according to Met Eireann.

A clearance will follow towards the east as the night progresses but it could be too little too late if the skies don't clear before dawn. The sun's light will completely wash out the shooting stars and we will have to wait until next year for the Leonid's return. Those with a piece of clear sky over their heads can look for the shooting stars in any part of the sky. Find the darkest location possible and bring along a seat for comfortable viewing.