Leonid meteor shower starts this weekend: how to spot the fastest shooting stars

Wrap up warm and look up. The Leonid meteor shower, one of the year's most prolific, is lighting up the night sky from this weekend, and it runs until 30 November.

What's happening up there? ✨

The Leonids are made of dust left behind by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle as it travels around the Sun. When that debris hits Earth's atmosphere, it burns up in a streak of light.

And it moves fast. The particles enter the atmosphere at up to 44 miles (71km) per second, which makes these the fastest meteors in the sky.

The shower peaks on the night of 17 November. At best, you could spot around 10 to 15 meteors an hour.

How do you actually see them?

You don't need binoculars or a telescope. Your eyes are enough.

Head somewhere safe and dark, away from street lights and other light pollution. A wide open space is best, because it gives you a full view of the sky.

Give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adapt to the dark. Meteors can appear anywhere, but they seem to fan out from a point called the radiant, which sits near the head of the constellation Leo. That's the best patch of sky to watch.

What will the weather do?

The weekend forecast isn't ideal. It will often be dry, but plenty of cloud is expected in many areas, with the odd spot of rain or drizzle.

Right now, the best chances of clear skies look to be in southern and western England and Wales on Friday and Saturday nights. Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland should see more cloud. By Sunday night, more of the UK is likely to be clear.

Fog could form wherever skies stay clear for a while, and temperatures will fall into single figures, with a touch of frost in a few places. You can check the hour-by-hour cloud, fog and temperature forecast for your area on BBC Weather online or in the app.

If you miss the start, don't worry. Conditions look especially good around the peak in mid-November, because the Moon will be below the horizon around midnight and its light won't wash out the view.