Stargazers will be looking to the sky tonight as the Perseid meteor shower peaks.
Considered to be one of the most visible and reliable meteor showers, the Perseids is an memorable event.
Although the shower has been crossing Irish skies over the last number of days, it was to reach peak activity last night and tonight.
Weather and light-pollution permitting, the shower should be visible to the naked eye with no special equipment necessary.
Thanks to the waxing crescent moon, experts say the annual event should be especially visible this year, and will appear to originate from a point in the northeast.
A Perseid's meteor fireball runs through the heart of the Milky Way on Saturday night at Slieve League, Co Donegal. Great to capture it, especially given the 75% Moon. Tap to expand to see all the star light! pic.twitter.com/9dNdu0qJPC
— Alistair Hamill (@ahamillphotos) August 10, 2020
According to Astronomy Ireland, the Perseids have been observed for around 2000 years and are the result of Earth passing through a cloud of dust left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 133 years.
As Earth moves through this cloud, the particles fall into our atmosphere and burn up, creating spectacular streaks of light in the sky known as meteors or shooting stars.
Perseids are known to leave long "wakes" of light and colour behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere, and are known as one of the most plentiful showers with approximately 50-100 meteors seen per hour.
This meteor shower is known for its fireballs - large explosions of light and colour that can last longer than an average meteor streak.
Members of the public are being asked to count how many meteors they see every 15 minutes and send the details to magazine@astronomy.ie. For more details, visit Astronomy Ireland.
