Most spectacular meteor shower of year takes place on Wednesday and Thursday night

The best meteor shower of the year will happen tonight and tomorrow night thanks to ideal weather conditions which will mean that up to three shooting stars a minute will be visible to the naked eye.

David Moore of Astronomy Ireland told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that this year’s geminid meteor shower will take place on what is expected to be a moonless night.

“It should be a really spectacular celestial fireworks display for the whole country,” he said, adding that geminates produce about 20 times more shooting stars or meteors than normal.

There will be no need for telescopes or binoculars as the meteor showers will be visible to the naked eye, he said.

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Mr Moore encouraged people to stay outdoors for as long as possible and to count how many shooting stars they see in a 15 minute period and to let Astronomy Ireland know.

“We want people to count them. Tell us how many they see every 15 minutes. It’s as simple as that and that has real scientific value. That’s how we know this is the best shower of the year, because people have been counting it year in, year out, not scientists.”

Temperatures tonight should be above normal which should make meteor viewing more comfortable, he said. However, Mr More did acknowledge that clouds were a problem in Ireland. If conditions were not clear he advised the public to keep checking the sky.

“If it’s not clear, do keep checking the sky because I was doing it last night and for hours it was cloudy. Then miraculously it cleared up and I got to see at least a dozen of the geminids, even though we’re not at the peak.”

Mr Moore said that even city dwellers will be able to see the meteor shower because geminid showers are known for producing extremely bright “fireballs”.

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