Forget the telescope or binoculars - if you want to watch the meteor shower on Tuesday, bring a hat. "The most important thing to do is wrap up well," warns David Moore, editor of Astronomy and Space magazine. Star-gazing is fun but it can get uncomfortably cold standing about in the cold and dark of a November night.
The key to successful viewing is to find the darkest place possible, Moore says. Even relatively faint background light will reduce the visibility of any shooting stars on display. It is also a help to get away from trees or buildings that can obstruct the view. You want as wide a viewing area as possible.
The naked eye is best for watching meteors. Telescopes or binoculars restrict the amount of sky you can see at any one time. Bring a chair for comfortable viewing but it doesn't matter in which direction you face - the meteors will be striking the atmosphere at a variety of angles. You may pick up slightly more meteors if you turn towards the part of the sky from which they seem to be coming.
Meteors can be as bright as a star but they are usually fainter. They appear as a streak of light that traces a faint line across the sky for no more than a second before vanishing. They are always around and you might see six or 10 an hour most times, but up to 100,000 in an hour in a true meteor storm.
The show comes into view for Ireland by about 10.30 p.m. or so, Moore says. It may start slowly - so if nothing seems to be happening, have a cup of tea and pop out every 30 minutes or so to see if the meteor rate has increased. It can be very unpredictable but it is worth persisting in case the display is good.
Don't despair if it is cloudy on Tuesday night. Gaps in the clouds could still offer the possibility of seeing a shooting star pass by, particularly if we are lucky and get a heavy bombardment.
RTE 1's new, four-part popular science series, Big Science, discusses meteor showers and the comets that cause them in a programme entitled It Came from Outer Space scheduled for Monday, at 9.30 p.m. The programme also looks at the possibility of comets and asteroids striking Earth.
Astronomy Ireland will hold a Leonids Watch on Tuesday, meeting at 10.30 p.m. at the Papal Cross Car Park in the Phoenix Park.