The Geminids meteor shower will peak tonight, and will be best seen from Bristol at 19:30 GMT.
The clear skies and plummeting temperatures forecast tonight are to make for perfect stargazing weather.
The meteor shower can be seen with the naked eye and is known by NASA as one of the “most reliable” annual astronomical events.
During the shower, stargazers can expect to see around 100 meteors per hour.
Astrophysicist Dr Carolyn Pennington says “this is a great chance to get people of all ages out and about, and looking up at the night sky”.
“There are apps to help you find your way around the sky.”
More commonly known as ‘shooting stars’, the phenomenon is actually debris being burnt up as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
“I suggest wrapping up warm and getting out to the more rural areas near Bristol if you can, although the meteor shower will still be just about visible with the light pollution in the city centre.”
Stargazers should look to the Southern skies towards Orion, and then diagonally cast their eye-line up and to the left, to find two identical bright stars – the constellation Gemini.
Although the Geminids meteor shower will be at its peak tonight and tomorrow (Friday 15th December), the shower will remain active until 20th December.
