All eyes up for the Perseid meteor shower

The Perseid meteor shower is due to reach its peak on Thursday night.

Stargazers may be able to spot shooting stars at a rate of around 50 per hour according to Eddie McGonagle of the Bermuda Astonomical Society of Bermuda.

Mr. McGonagle said: “The streaks of light we see shooting across the sky these mid August nights indicate that the Perseids have arrived.

“Each year at this time the Earth intersects a stream of debris, left in the wake of Comet Swift-Tuttle. This Comet has been orbiting the Sun every 130 years since before the time of Christ.

“On each passage it deposits a fresh batch of grain sized particles from its melted surface so that it now has material all around it's orbit with Earth sweeping a path through this stream every August 12/13.”

The peak viewing time is estimated to be from 10pm on Thursday through dawn on Friday.

Initially the shooting stars will be seen as long slow streaks coming from the north east and gradually climbing up to an overhead position where the numbers will increase but the streaks shorten in length.