Cloud cover permitting, coastal and island residents should enjoy all-night views of the Geminid meteor showers over Ireland this week.
Astronomy Ireland is asking observers to count the meteors or shooting stars seen, with the best viewing on the nights of December 13th and 14th.
“No special equipment is needed, and you can look anywhere in the sky,” Astronomy Ireland says.
“As Earth moves through clouds of dust leftover from comets, the particles fall into our atmosphere and burn up, creating spectacular streaks of light in the sky, known as meteors or shooting stars,” it explains.
“ This shower is named after the constellation Gemini, from which the meteors appear to come from in the sky,” it says.
“If you trace back the path of a Geminid, you will find that it appears to come from a point in the southeast,” it says.
“Meteors will “zip” across the sky in one second or less,” it says.
“Don’t confuse them with man-made satellites, which take a minute or more to cross the sky. There are so many satellites these days that you will probably see more of them than meteors,” it adds.
The organisation has asked members of the public to count meteors every night that you can for one week before the peak and one week after – one week after ending on December 21st.
It is seeking information on details of meteor showers seen every 15 minutes (if possible, start on the hour or quarter past the hour), and has asked for reports to be emailed to magazine@astronomy.ie
It advises that the report should include name, location, and the night observed.
An example of a report is below:
Name: Joe XXXXX
Location: Clonakilty, Co. Cork
Night: Monday night and Tuesday morning 11:30 – 11:45: 12 meteors
11:45 – 00:00: 8 meteors
00:00 – 00:15: 17 meteors
Email address: magazine@astronomy.ie
More information is on https://astronomy.ie/geminids/
