CYPRUS: Stargazers get ready for the best meteor shower of the year

Cypriots are advised to look skywards this weekend as the dazzling Perseid meteor shower will be at its peak on Sunday night.

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According to NASA the Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the most impressive meteor shower of the year.

“The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer night-time weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them,” NASA’s official website reads on the phenomenon.

Despite the fact that this year’s density is expected to be smaller than other years the dark sky will allow a good observation of the phenomenon.

The phenomenon started on July 17 and is expected to last until 24 August, but Sunday will see the number of shooting stars streak across the sky multiply.

It will be best observed after midnight, in a north-eastern direction, with a naked eye and at a location which is away from city lights, either by the seaside or on the mountain.

“The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the sun once,” NASA said.

The Perseid meteor shower is always popular, but this year's peak — which occurs on the nights of August 11 to 12 and August 12 to 13 — will be particularly spectacular this year because the moon will be a thin crescent and set early, leaving a dark canvas for the meteors' bright streaks and fireballs.

According to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, the shower should feature 60 to 70 meteors per hour at its peak this year — fewer than years when the shower is in outburst, when there can be up to 200 meteors per hour.

But nevertheless, the dark sky and balmy summer temperatures will make the Perseids a great meteor shower to watch.

"This is the meteor shower people view most because it occurs in the summer, when the nights are warm and comfortable, when you only have to worry about mosquitoes," Cooke told Space.com.