Clear night skies forecast for 2020 Perseids meteor shower peak over Bulgaria

With a few days left to the peak of the 2020 Perseids meteor shower, the good news is that weather forecasters are predicting clear night skies over Bulgaria’s four major cities.

The annual Perseids meteor shower will peak in Bulgaria’s night skies from August 11 to 13.

There will, however, be some competition from the moon, which on those days will be just less than half-full.

However, already by August 10, the Perseids would be putting on a pretty good show, ahead of the peak nights when 50 to 100 meteors an hour should be seen.

The best time to view the shower in the northern hemisphere is deep into the night and at pre-dawn hours, but brighter meteors could be seen as early as 10pm, according to Nasa.

Bulgaria’s capital Sofia and second city Plovdiv, as well as the Black Sea cities of Varna and Bourgas, are all forecast to have clear skies, but the viewing enjoyment would be higher at other places with less light pollution.

The Perseids have been observed for at least two millennia and are made up of bits of dust and ice trailing the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years, according to Nasa. Their name derives from the fact that they appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus.

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