Spectacular sights are coming: shooting stars and, if you’re lucky, the Northern Lights

Meteorologists agree: conditions are ideal for meteors. This is the peak night for the Perseid meteor shower. These pieces of space debris leave light trails as they pass through the atmosphere. The peak is on the second night.

Amateur astronomer Victor van Wolfen and weather forecaster Wouter van Bernbeck both went out last night to catch shooting stars.

“The Northern Lights came across suddenly. There’s a good chance they’ll appear again next evening. There’s a lot of activity on the sun at the moment,” Victor said.

Wouter used his camera to look for a combination of shooting stars and purple heather in the Maas area. “As a bonus, I also saw the spectacle of the Northern Lights. This is very rare. I haven’t even seen it in Norway.”

That bodes well for the upcoming night: Watt expects about fifty meteors per hour. “The second night will have more clouds, but there will also be a lot of clear skies. In the big cities, you’re going to have to rely on the larger fireballs. You won’t be able to properly observe the smaller meteors.”

Victor expects the spectacle in the sky to begin with shooting stars at eleven o’clock. “In the United States, there was a big show last night, and tomorrow night awaits us. The active period of meteors is a total of two weeks. The northern lights usually pass after twelve o’clock.”

The Northern Lights are caused by electrically charged particles from solar activity hitting the Earth’s atmosphere. This collision creates the light effect, turning the sky magical shades of green, purple and red.