Best spots to catch Northern Lights AND Perseid meteor shower tonight with shooting stars & bright lights to fill sky
STARGAZERS could be in for a treat tonight as both the Northern Lights and the Perseid meteor shower will be filling the night sky with shooting stars and bright lights.
Those looking skyward tonight could see the Perseid meteor shower put on a spectacular display, showing off around 100 shooting stars streaking across the sky every hour.
The Perseid meteor shower happens when the Earth hits material shed from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle as the planet orbits around the Sun and is best seen in the northern hemisphere.
When fragments, usually no bigger than a grain of sand, reach Earth’s atmosphere the air in front of the particles becomes compressed, producing heat and causing the fragments to burn up.
That results in bright, colourful, streaks across the sky.
Experts believe the meteors come from between the constellations of Camelopardalis and Persus, from which their name is derived.
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Clear skies above will help anyone get a good display although being in a southern location may improve things, according to an expert.
Associate professor of astronomy Daniel Brown at Nottingham Trent University told The Sun that being further south helped with "better longer darker skies".
He said: "The best time to observe would be after midnight tonight when the shower is due to show its peak activity.
"But note that the activity is already good in the days leading up and the week after.
"Also it might well be that we get a secondary peak in the few days after today."
The professor added: "So probably south England might have a bit longer darker nights and the north have the radiant marginally higher in the sky.
"But it really is the weather that will tell you where is best."
NASA has described the Perseid as the "best meteor shower of the year".
For the best view, NASA recommends watching during the "dark hours" of the day, which in the UK will be from around midnight to 2am.
Also known as the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights put on a stunning show across the UK on Monday night, with sightings reported as far south as Cornwall.
Marina Muttik, 29, a software engineer who lives in Berkhamsted, Herts, but witnessed the Northern Lights and Perseid meteor shower from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, described the experience as "humbling".
She said: "The aurora was peaking at around 11.30pm, which is when some of the pink became more visible to eye.
What is a meteor shower?
Here's what you need to know...
- During a meteor shower, fireballs appear to streak across the sky
- This happens because pieces of debris are rapidly burning up as they eneter Earth’s atmosphere
- That debris is often left behind by a collision between two space objects, like a planet or comet
- The Orionids shower is debris from Halley’s Comet, a huge chunk of ice orbiting the Sun
- Many meteor showers are repeated
- They occur at a height of around 62 miles
"It's always humbling watching the night sky, and the Perseid meteor shower added a touch of magic - perfect for making a few wishes."
Kirsty Louise, who is 30 and based in Plymouth, Devon, captured photos of the meteor shower on her phone at around 11.20pm on Monday.
She said: "Funnily enough I couldn't actually see what I saw on my phone. When I saw the photos it made me feel happy, I absolutely love anything to do with space, so seeing that and knowing I caught it on my phone made me feel happy."
In Northumberland, the shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower were seen darting through the sky which had turned hues of purple and green over the Bathing House in Howick.
According to the Met Office, the Northern Lights are usually best witnessed in Scotland, northern England, North Wales and Northern Ireland.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)
However, under certain space weather conditions - a particularly strong geomagnetic storm - they can be seen throughout the UK.
The natural light display is caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.
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The colour display depends in part on what molecules the charged particles interact with.
The Met Office forecast suggests the activity should return back to background levels on Tuesday, with any visible aurora restricted to the far north of Scotland.
