KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Malaysians will be in for a treat as they will have a chance to view the annual Perseids meteor shower at its peak next week.

In Facebook posts yesterday, the National Planetarium said Malaysians will have a chance to observe this phenomenon at night throughout the July 17 to August 24 period.

"This Perseids meteor shower will hit its peak with a rate of 110 meteors per hour, or almost two meteors per minute on Thursday, August 12, 2021, 9pm until early morning August 13, 2021,” it said, adding that those who wish to gaze on this meteor shower would have to go a dark place that is far from light pollution.

For skygazers who fear that they may miss out on the meteor shower as they live in the cities, they can still catch it through live streaming online.

The Sabah-based group Dark Sky Malaysia on August 1 announced that it would be showing a live stream of the meteor shower, in collaboration with Sabah’s science, technology and innovation ministry and the National Planetarium.

The live stream will start at 8pm on August 12 on both Dark Sky Malaysia’s Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well as on Karnival Sains Sabah’s Facebook page.

Dark Sky Malaysia said an e-certificate would be provided to those who follow its live stream of the meteor shower.

Apart from giving the public a chance to observe the skies together, Dark Sky Malaysia said further information about the Perseids meteor shower would be provided, with a photography contest and quiz to also be held during the live stream.

Dark Sky Malaysia yesterday started a countdown to both this year’s peak of the Perseids meteor shower as well as the group’s live stream, with today being nine days away from the much-anticipated event.

A July 30 blog post by US space agency Nasa explains that the Perseids are actually fragments or debris of the comet Swift-Tuttle that show up as meteors in the sky when our planet passes near the comet’s orbit path annually.

Each orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle around the sun takes up 133 years.

Nasa advises those who wish to view the meteor shower to avoid bright lights as much as possible including phones and to give their eyes up to half an hour if possible to adjust to the dark.

It said the Perseids will appear as quick and small streaks of light.