Tonight's Incredible Meteor Light Show - That Britain Could Miss

Tonight's Incredible Meteor Light Show - That Britain Could Miss

Know what a camelopardalid meteor shower is? If you don't, carry on in blissful ignorance. If you do, you'll know what we're missing out on.

Across North America, stargazers will see up to 200 sightings an hour of meteors in the shower, rock and ice fragments given off by Comet 209P/LINEAR. Never before has a shower from this comet come across our skies.

At its peak, there could up to 100 meteors an hour, but a meteor storm could mean over 1,000 meteors per hour.

A previous meteor shower streak in Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada

It will happen at peak darkness for our Yankee cousins, between 2-3am EDT giving them a superb view of the shooting stars. But it will happen around 8am UK time, and because it will be after sunrise, we may not spot a single ones.

Some skywatchers are still holding out hope if there are some darker skies tomorrow, but it is pretty unpredictable.

In London, some enthusiasts are set to gather at The WaterWorks Nature Reserve near Clapton because of its distance from light pollution. In Wales, there's a chance of seeing some shooting stars at the Brecon Beacons Dark Sky Reserve, granted special protection as an international dark sky reserve. It is about an hour drive from the city.

But one of the most likely spots to see the falling fragments is in the Scottish Highlands, distant from light pollution.

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