One of the year's most prolific meteor showers to light up the night sky this weekend

The shower is made up of dust particles from the Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which leaves a trail of debris as it follows its path around the Sun. These particles enter the Earth's atmosphere at up to 44 miles (71km) per second - meaning these streaks of light are the fastest meteors in the sky.

However, giving your eyes some time to adapt to the dark - perhaps 20 or 30 minutes - will give you the best chance of spotting them. While the weather will often be dry, large amounts of cloud are expected to fill the sky in many areas with the chance of a few spots of rain or drizzle.

At the moment the best opportunities for clear skies appear to be in southern and western areas of England and Wales on Friday and Saturday nights, with more cloud in northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. However, fog could be an additional issue, forming in any areas where skies remain clear for any length of time, obscuring the view.