ANumerous shooting stars were observed over Germany early on Saturday morning. At about three o’clock the Perseid current reached its peak. The weather conditions were perfect almost everywhere, as a spokesman for the German Weather Service said. It was a starry night. Only in Lower Bavaria and around the Oder did a few clouds gather.
Shooting stars could also be seen in the Oldenburg district, as a photographer from the German Press Agency reported. On average, a shooting star was clearly visible every five minutes. However, only the brightest specimens: A disturbing factor was the sky brightened by the moon. This stayed above the horizon all night, limiting the view of the Perseid swarm.
Anyone who missed the maximum of the current on Saturday morning still has opportunities to make wishes. “The activity of the Perseids will still be there for the next two weeks, of course decreasing over time,” said Tim Florian Horn, CEO of the Planetarium Berlin Foundation. It is not only worth looking at the sky at the maximum of a river. There had already been a significant increase in the activity of the Perseids in the days before.
“You can actually see shooting stars on any normal night because the earth is constantly absorbing dust from space, which becomes a shooting star when it enters the atmosphere,” added Horn. However, you need some patience. “The best thing is to lie down on a blanket on the floor.” A stream of shooting stars occurs when the earth pulls through the cloud of dust that a comet leaves behind.
The telescopes of observatories are not suitable for spotting shooting stars because they only show a small part of the sky. “But the observatories are built where you have a good view.”
