Shooting Stars Continue to Light Up Sky

The Geminid meteor shower which started last week and hit its peak last night is set to continue tonight.

For those who did not get to observe last night, the meteor show continues tonight and every night until December 20.

The Geminid shower was due to peak last night, and many observers said they saw up to 100 shooting stars per hour.

On Astronomy Ireland’s Facebook page, some ‘fans’ shared their experiences of watching the spectacle last night.

The organization advised that star-gazers do not need a telescope or another specialized equipment to view the ‘shooting stars.’ The best place to watch is somewhere dark, uninterrupted by street lights.

Astronomy Ireland began a Nationwide Geminid Watch on December 6, asking amateur astronomers to count the number of meteors they see.

Explaining the phenomenon, Astronomy Ireland said, “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. This [particular] shower is named after the constellation Gemini, from which the meteors appear to come from in the sky.”

The later people stay up, the more meteors they will see. Some people reported they had seen the shooting stars early this morning.

As part of its Nationwide Geminid Watch, Astronomy Ireland is asking people across the country to watch out for the ‘shooting stars,’ record how many they see every 15 minutes and notify the organization of their findings in a report.