Set a reminder!
A meteor shower is set to light up skies across the UK tonight, showcasing one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena.
This evening’s light show is one of two meteor showers set to illuminate skies across the next month giving keen observers multiple chances to catch a glimpse of a ‘shooting star’.
The first of these are the Draconids, a short-lived meteor shower that is typically visible from the 6 to 10 October, but will be most active between the 8 and 9 October.
The shower gets its name from the Draco constellation and are believed to come from the debris leftover from Comet 21 P/Giacobini-Zinner which is currently on a trajectory past Earth.
The Draconids are known for their unpredictability, and has been known to produce a stellar 1,000 meteors per hour in the past.
Meanwhile, if you fail to catch the ‘dragon’ then there’s always a chance to see the Orionid meteor shower later in the month.
Named after the Orion constellation where the meteors appear to originate from, NASA describe the light show as “one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year”.
These ‘shooting stars’ are in fact debris from the world famous Halley’s Comet, making the Orionids real VIPs of the meteor shower scene.
While the Orionids are a yearly occurrence, Halley’s Comet can only be seen once every 75 years with it next passing Earth in 2061.
The Orionid meteor shower is officially active from the 2 October till 7 November, however will peak on the night of the 21 October into the 22 October – so set a reminder!
For observing such phenomena at night time it has been advised before by the European Space Agency (ESA) to stay away from areas with lots of lightning and try and find dark places to watch the skies.
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They also advise to avoid looking at screens or other bright objects in the half hour before going to watch the shower in order to allow the eyes to adjust to the dark.
The best time to see the meteors will be just after midnight, when the sky is at its darkest.
Of course the weather is a key component to seeing the shower, with cloud cover expected to be patchy in places in the coming days and weeks, it could all come down to luck.
Meteors come from debris that is shed from comets that then hit the earth’s atmosphere expulsing bright streaks of light as the friction burns up the particles high in the sky.
A meteor is a meteoroid that burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere while a meteorite is a meteoroid that reaches the Earths surface.
Meteoroids are typically 2mm to 1m in size while an asteroid is anything larger.
A comet is a large ball of frozen gas, rock and dust that orbits the sun.
