100 fireballs will shoot across the sky per hour as rare cosmic event peaks tomorrow night
Tomorrow night will see 100 fireballs shoot across the sky as part of a rare cosmic event.
Given the state of the world right now, the news of 100 fireballs shooting through the sky might seem pretty terrifying but the reality is far more exciting.
While we're often warned about asteroids which could destroy the Earth or potentially hostile alien threats up in space, it's often a good reminder that our home planet is just a tiny speck of a gigantic and beautiful universe.
And that fact will be on show tomorrow night when the Perseid meteor shower reportedly reaches its peak.
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Named after the Greek hero and the constellation which they originate from, the event has been described by NASA as the 'most popular meteor shower of the year.'
According to the Royal Observatory, the meteor shower has been active from 17 July, and will go on until 24 August, but tomorrow night (12 August) is expected to be the most dazzling display yet.
Stargazers in the UK should expect to see some showers once the sun sets, but best views will be found after midnight away from built-up and well-lit areas.
However, visibility may be affected by the recent full moon, according to Finn Burridge, science communicator at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
He said: "This year's peak unfortunately lines up with a full moon meaning even in dark sky areas it will be impossible to see the full 100 meteors per hour.
"However, [the Sturgeon Moon] is no reason not to go out and enjoy the shower - it is still likely that you will see at least 1 or 2 fireballs per hour, even with a full moon. Dates nearer to the shower's peak offer the best chance, but this also coincides with the full moon.
"After the full moon is more likely the better time to view, since the Moon will rise later in the night, so I would recommend the peak nights as well as weekend of 16 and 17 August," he added.
Weather in the UK tomorrow is expected to be hot and clear, which might well prove to be perfect conditions for stargazing.
So it's definitely worth staying out if you want to catch a sight of the meteor shower, as this particular one is derived from a comet called Swift–Tuttle, which orbits the Sun just once every 133 years.
You also don't need to be worried about any of the space meteors damaging your back garden, as they're likely as big as a grain of sand, which produces beautifully bright trails of light as they enter the Earth's atmosphere.
James Moorhouse