Monday, August 12
Shooting stars: Clear skies give Berlin ideal night for Perseid meteor shower
Warm weather and clear skies mean that Berlin is set for a perfect view of tonight’s meteor shower. The annual cosmic display known as the Perseids are visible in the night sky from about mid-July, but August 12 is set to be the peak. On a night with few clouds, star gazers may expect to see the long bright shining tails of meteoroids passing across the sky every two or three minutes.
Despite some isolated showers in the afternoon, the German Weather Service expects conditions to clear up to an almost cloudless sky with warm temperatures of around 20 degrees through the night.
The meteor shower is brought about by the earth’s transit through a stream of debris consisting of the particles ejected by the Swift-Tuttle comet as it completes its 133-year orbit. To Catholics, the meteor shower is known as the “tears of Saint Lawrence”, commemorating a deacon of Rome who was martyred in 258 AD.
