The Perseid meteor shower will peak tonight in the sky over the UK, with scores of brilliant shooting stars potentially illuminating the gloom every minute. However, August’s Full Moon is fast approaching, while the UK’s Met Office has forecast a combination of clouds and rain across parts of the UK. This wet weather makes it far from certain stargazers will spot any of the Perseid shower’s shooting stars. Thankfully, a solution is at hand, as both Slooh and US space NASA are live streaming the annual celestial light show – here is how to watch it.
NASA will live stream the Perseid shooting star show from its Meteor Watch Facebook page, found HERE.
The NASA Perseid live stream kicks-off from 1am BST (8pm EDT) tonight and will continue until the early hours of Tuesday, August 13.
Robotic telescope service Slooh is anther option on offer, which will live stream the Perseids show, found HERE.
Subscription service Slooh’s show will be headlined by astrophysicist Dr Paige Godfrey, from 2am BST (9pm EDT).
Slooh viewers can enjoy the Perseid shower from observatories located in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe using, cutting-edge low-light camera tech.
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Can you watch the Perseids meteor shower in the UK tonight?
The famed Perseids meteor shower peaks night, going into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The UK’s Met Office is forecasted good conditions for most of the UK, despite this afternoon’s torrential downpours.
Wales and central and southern England should receive the clearest skies.
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While stargazers in Scotland and Northern Ireland and Scotland can also expect good spells of weather.
Met Office meteorologist Bonnie Diamond confirmed: “It should look like a decent night for most places.
“Weather tonight is largely dry for many but there is potentially some showers affecting western coasts later this evening and generally dying out overnight, where it might be cloudier.
“So there will be a bit of cloud around but some really good gaps.”
WATCH LIVE TONIGHT: Perseids 2019 live stream from Rome
Yet despite the promising weather this year’s Perseids will not be at their best because of the bright Moon in the sky.
Yet one cause for optimism is the Moon hangs relatively low in the southern sky during the northern hemisphere’s summer.
This is because the Earth’s axis tilts towards the Sun during the day and away from the Moon at night.
This will consequently reduce the problem of this week’s approaching Sturgeon Full Moon.