Geminid meteor shower to light up skies this weekend - here's how to watch it

A "spectacular" meteor shower is expected to light up the night sky this weekend.

The Geminid shower, which is referred to as a "meteor storm" because of its intensity, is forecast to peak sometime between Saturday and Sunday.

The shower has been known to produce more than 150 meteors per hour at its peak, but due to light pollution and other factors the number seen is usually considerably less.

The Geminids originate from a rocky asteroid called 3200 Phaethon with a comet-like orbit and were first observed in 1862.

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Dr Minjae Kim, a research fellow in the physics department at the University of Warwick, said: "The Geminids are one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year.

"They are fascinating as they're one of the few major meteor showers associated with an asteroid 3200 Phaethon rather than a comet."

According to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the bright meteors of the Geminid shower are unusual in that they are multi-coloured, with most of them being white but some being yellow and a few green, red and blue.

The colours are partly caused by the presence of traces of metals such as sodium and calcium, the same effect that is used to make fireworks colourful.

How to watch it

Patience, warm clothes and staying power are key, with showers usually most visible between midnight and pre-dawn hours. Royal Museums Greenwich advises taking a chair too, as you could be outside for a while.

The advice if you want to catch a glimpse is to get out early - around 7pm - before clouds block out the view.

Those in the southeast should be treated to the best view with clear skies.

And those in Eastern Scotland will also get a chance to spot the phenomenon in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Finding a wide-open space away from sources of light pollution will help your chances.

No telescope or binoculars should be needed, but stargazers will need to allow time for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Leave checking your phone until later, as it will mean your eyes have to adapt all over again.

Once you spot something, experts advise not looking directly at a meteor's light, but instead just to the side in a dark area of the sky, to help you see more of the shower overall.

The meteors, which are small pieces of interplanetary debris, appear to radiate from near the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini.

The next meteor shower, the Ursids, will peak on 22 December, three days before Christmas.

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