If you’re a fan of stargazing, make sure to keep your eyes on the skies tonight.
This weekend, the Geminid meteor show will reach its dazzling peak in the skies above Earth.
Also known as the ‘king of meteor showers’, the Geminids are the year’s most spectacular display and definitely not one to be missed.
Up to 150 bright meteors will light up the sky every hour, many of them flashing yellow, green, red, or blue.
While you will still be able to catch the Geminids until December 20, they will be at their most active tonight and into the earlier hours of Sunday morning.
Professor Don Pollacco, of The University of Warwick, told MailOnline: ‘This year, conditions are less than ideal as we have a near full moon which will obscure some of the fainter meteors.
‘Still, this shower is always worth a look if the weather is favourable.’
Here’s everything you need to know about the Geminid meteor shower including when and where to get the best view.
Tonight the incredible Geminid meteor shower will reach its peak, treating stargazers to up to 150 meteors per hour
The Geminids (pictured) are particularly thrilling to see since they can often flash red, green, blue, or yellow due to their metal content
How to watch the Geminids meteor shower tonight
Unlike some astronomical phenomena, watching a meteor shower doesn’t require anything more technical than looking in the right direction at the right time.
Since annual meteor showers like the Geminids always appear from the same place in the sky, known as their radiant, this is exceptionally easy.
Dr Shyam Balaji, a researcher at King’s College London, told MailOnline: ‘ ‘Look towards the constellation Gemini, which is where the meteors appear to originate. The radiant point is near the bright star Castor in Gemini.’
For stargazers in the UK that will appear in the South and high in the sky towards the early hours of Sunday morning.
If you’re having trouble finding Castor you can try drawing an imaginary line through the handle of the plough and its bottom-right star and follow that until you see the two bright stars of Castor and Pollux sitting near each other.
However, if you’re still struggling to spot Gemini don’t worry too much.
Although this is where the meteors appear to emerge from, they will be visible all over the sky.
The Geminids appear to radiate from the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini, but it’s actually best not to look directly at this area of the night sky as this can limit the number you see
Dr Balaj says: ‘The best time to view the Geminid meteor shower is around 2 am local time when the radiant point is highest in the sky.’
‘However, you can start watching from mid-evening onwards.’
To make matters easier, you won’t even need any special equipment to get the best view of this yearly spectacle.
Dr Greg Brown, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told MailOnline: ‘Unlike most other astronomical events, a telescope or a pair of binoculars won’t do you much good here.
‘Instead, find a place with a wide-open sky, free of buildings and trees that get in the way and try to fill your view with as much of the sky as possible.’
Since even the best shooting stars can be quite dim it is still important to find an area away from light pollution and give your eyes as long as possible to adjust to the dark.
That might mean waiting for a while without using your torch or phone until you see something.
Dr Brown says: ‘Lying on the ground or using a deckchair can make filling your view with the sky far more comfortable. And, of course, don’t forget to wrap up warm.’
The best time to see the meteors will be after midnight when you will be on the side of the Earth facing directly into the oncoming meteors
Will the viewing conditions be good?
Unfortunately, the viewing conditions for the Geminid meteor shower won’t be fantastic this evening.
The moon will be full on Sunday so the sky will not get as dark as usual which could make it difficult to see some of the fainter meteors.
According to the Met Office’s forecast, it also looks likely that there will be fairly thick cloud over much of Britain from midnight onwards.
Greg Dewhurst, senior operational meteorologist at the Met Office, told MailOnline: ‘There will be quite a lot of cloud across the UK this weekend, with outbreaks of rain likely for northwest Scotland and some showers elsewhere.
‘At this stage, it looks like perhaps southern and eastern parts of the UK may see the most cloud breaks over the weekend so these areas may get the best glimpses.’
However, if you don’t manage to see any shooting stars tonight there’s no need to lose hope entirely.
Big meteor showers like the Geminids are quite forgiving so there will still be plenty of opportunities to see some shooting stars for several days to come.
Unfortunately, the weather will not be ideal tonight with rain (right) forecast over Scotland and heavy cloud (left) over most of the country
Mr Dewhurst says: ‘We would suggest to keep up to date with the weekend details over the coming days.’
What is the Geminid meteor shower?
The Geminids first appeared in the mid-1800s but they have not always been as spectacular as they are today.
When they first started showing up, the Geminids only produced between 10 to 20 meteors at a time.
However, since then they have grown into one of the year’s most active and impressive displays.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through a cloud of debris left behind by a passing comet or asteroid.
Dr Brown says: ‘These meteors don’t so much fall onto the Earth but instead are swept up as the Earth collides with them, not dissimilar to bugs hitting a windshield.’
Since the cloud of debris doesn’t move relative to the sun, this explains why meteor showers occur at the same time each year and emerge from the same point in the sky.
The Geminids, as pictured here by NASA, are caused by the debris field left in the wake of a passing asteroid
This is also the reason that meteor showers are best viewed after midnight since you are on the side of the planet pointing in the direction of Earth’s movement, putting the oncoming debris cloud directly ahead.
Unlike most meteor showers which are caused by comet debris, the Geminids originate from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.
The Geminid’s rocky origins are the reason that they flash with colour as they burn up in the sky.
Dr Brown says: ‘When meteors fall into the atmosphere, they heat up, usually to the point that they burn away before they hit the ground.
‘When certain chemicals are exposed to extreme heat, the light they give off is based on the elements found within them,’
Just like you may have seen in chemistry class playing with the Bunsen burner, the presence of chemicals like sodium and calcium changes the colour of the meteor’s flame.
However, Paethon’s strange behaviour has led some scientists to suggest that it could be a new category of object called a rock comment.
Although Paethon has an extremely elliptical orbit like a comet, it doesn’t produce a trail when it approaches the sun and the fragments it leaves behind appear to be much denser.
The Geminids originate from an asteroid called Paethon 3200 (pictured) which scientists believe broke off from a larger object at some point in the past
As the meteors burn up in the atmosphere between 63 and 25 miles above Earth, metals from Paethon combust and give the shooting stars their distinctive colour
Given that the asteroid doesn’t melt into fragments like an icy comet, scientists have been confused as to why it would have left a debris field at all.
Last year, a NASA probe travelling to the sun was bombarded by tiny dust particles left behind by Phaeton.
This data suggested that Phaeton and the debris which forms the Geminid could have been formed in a devastating collision or explosion which broke apart a larger body.
When will the next meteor shower be?
Even if you don’t manage to see any of the Geminids tonight and in the coming days, there are still plenty more chances to get your meteor fix.
The Ursid meteor shower will be visible from December 17 until December 26, with a peak just in time for Christmas on December 23.
With only 10 meteors per hour, they might not be quite as impressive as the Geminids but occurring near the winter solstice the long hours of darkness are an ideal time for stargazing.
Then, running all the way from December 26 until January 12, 2025, budding stargazers will be able to see the incredible Quadrantids meteor shower.
Once the Geminids are over, pictured here above Belarus, the next meteor shower to look out for will be the Ursid meteor shower which will be visible from December 17 until December 26
At its peak on January 4, you will be able to see up to 120 meteors per hour light up the sky.
This shower is also notable for its bright bluish or yellow meteors with long fine trains.
After that, it will be a few months until the next opportunity with the Lyrids shower not starting until mid-April.
The Lyrids shower will reach its peak on April 22, with viewers able to see up to 18 bright and fast meteors every hour.