SHOOTING STAR SPECTACLE: Hundreds of Perseid meteors to light up Derbyshire’s night sky

The Perseid meteor shower occurs when debris from the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which last passed near Earth in 1992 and is not due to return until 2125, collides with the atmosphere.

The annual spectacle is now underway and will peak on Wednesday night and into the early hours of Thursday when there are expected to be up to 100 shooting stars per hour.

That will be a moonless night so the sky will be extra dark. If cloud stays away, Perseid viewing conditions will be perfect.

“It’s going to be a spectacular show this year,” astronomer Morgan Hollis, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said. “You’ll be able to a see a lot more than normal.”

A Met Office spokesman urged residents to wrap up warm, go outside, lie back and look up during the early hours.

The spokesman added: “To see the meteor shower, you don’t need a telescope, binoculars or any other equipment – all you need is your eyes.

“You don’t need to look in any particular direction as meteors appear randomly anywhere in the sky.”