When and how can you watch

Parts of the UK will be treated to another celestial treat on Monday evening as the Perseid meteor shower continues to streak through the skies.

The spectacle began on the night of Sunday to Tuesday and is expected to last until Tuesday morning.

The Perseids pass through our atmosphere every year as the Earth orbits through debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.

According to experts, the best chances of seeing a meteor start just after midnight and end about an hour before sunrise, but it’s worth checking the weather in your location.

The Met Office said viewing conditions would be good overnight Monday into Tuesday, with up to 100 meteors potentially visible per hour.

A coronal mass ejection – outbursts of magnetic fields and solar storms – from the sun could also increase the chance of seeing the Northern Lights in northern areas of the UK, the national weather service added.

The Perseid meteors are visible all over the world and are so named because they appear to originate from the constellation Perseus.

While most nights only a few meteors can be seen per hour, during the peak of the Perseids many, many more can be seen.

If you’re really lucky, you might see 100 or more meteors per hour, scientists say.

We see meteors when the Earth flies through debris trails left by comets or asteroids. When this debris hits our planet’s atmosphere, it burns up and creates spectacular streaks of light.

The Perseids – pronounced “Per-see-ids” – are caused by debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Dr. Gregory Brown, senior astronomy officer at Royal Observatory in Greenwichsaid that the Perseids are one of the fastest meteor showers.

“They travel up to 37 miles per second, but are about the size of flecks of paint or grains of sand falling into the atmosphere,” he said.

“It creates this pretty brilliant light show, but there’s absolutely no chance of them hitting the ground. And even if they did, they’re these tiny little things that wouldn’t do any damage.”

To find the Perseid meteor shower, it is best to look for the point in the sky from which it appears to originate, the so-called radiant.

The radiant of the Perseids is in the Constellation PerseusA stargazing app can help you find the exact spot to look, depending on your location in the UK.

However, try to get to a place that is as dark as possible with a wide, unobstructed view, as the meteors can appear in any part of the sky.

The darker it is where you are, the better your chances of seeing meteors moving across the sky. Give your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to the night.

“Lie down or use a lawn chair to see as much of the sky as possible. Then just wait and give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. If it’s nice and clear and you watch for an hour or so, eventually – fingers crossed – you should be able to catch at least a handful,” Dr. Brown said.

In most parts of the UK, weather conditions will be at their clearest overnight between Monday and Tuesday, according to the BBC weather forecast.

BBC weather presenter Billy Payne predicted that there would be “fine, clear skies” in Scotland and Northern Ireland overnight from Tuesday to Sunday.

There could be some rain and cloudy areas in the south and east of England with “clear spells in between,” he said.

“Parts of northern and western England are likely to be stuck under a front, meaning limited visibility for many,” he said.