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AP Photo/Petar Petrov/File
Astronomers observe the night sky for the Perseid meteor shower in Sofia, Bulgaria
# Eyes to the sky
Meteor shower: Astronomy Ireland wants you to be their eyes
The perseid meteor shower is underway. Get out and have a look!
ASTRONOMY IRELAND IS asking stargazers to keep their eyes peeled tonight as the best meteor shower of the year reaches its peak.
According to SpaceDex the peak time to view the meteors in Ireland is between 11pm tonight and 4am tomorrow morning, while the best visibility will be in the early hours of tomorrow and Monday morning, due to less moonlight.
It’s expected that the meteors (cloud permitting) should be visible at a rate of between 15 and 30 per hour.
The Perseid meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Perseus in the north-eastern sky, but can be seen anywhere in the sky. No telescopes or binoculars are needed to see the Perseids as they are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
Astronomy Ireland is asking anyone with an interest in the skies to document what they see, counting how many meteors they see every fifteen minutes. You can then email your report, like the one below, to meteor@astronomy.ie:
Galway stargazer Niall Madden was out for a look last night:
Here’s footage of a perseid meteor shower at its peak as seen from County Down in 2010:
uploaded by meteorlog
Meteors to rain down on Earth in coming week>
