Stunning Orionid meteor shower peaks in moonless sky

The Orionids meteor shower peaked on Tuesday night and with some clear skies, it may have been your best chance of seeing the celestial display.

Taking place 60 miles up in space, the meteors are known for being bright and fast and are visible across the globe.

You may also get a chance to see either the Lemmon or SWAN comets, external as they also pass close to Earth.

The Orionids are fast-moving meteors travelling at a speed of around 41 miles per second.

They have long streaks of light and originate from the well- known Halley's Comet as it follows its orbit around the Sun. The comet itself only passes by Earth roughly every 75 years, with the next date expected to be the summer of 2061.

As Earth passes through debris left by the comet, tiny particles the size of a grain of sand burn up in our atmosphere and leave a streak of light through the sky.

They can appear faint but they leave a distinctive light trail. Larger meteors will produce bright trails. Sometimes meteors can even appear brighter than the planet Venus – these are called fireballs, external.

Skygazers in the Northern Hemisphere might also have the chance to see either comet Lemmon or SWAN.

Comet SWAN takes 22,554 years to orbit the Sun and Lemmon 1,350 years but both are at their closest orbit to Earth on Tuesday.

The radiant is the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate, and for the Orionids this is the constellation of Orion.

Orion rises in the east after midnight, just to the north of its red-tinged star Betelgeuse. To track down Orion, external, look out for a line of three bright stars, close together, known as Orion's Belt.

The quality of the display is measured by how many meteors are visible every hour - known as the zenithal hourly rate. The peak of the Orionids often sees around 15 meteors an hour travelling at speeds of 148,000mph (238,000km/h).

You should still be able to see the meteor shower for several days following the peak. For the best viewing conditions, find a dark spot, away from city lights after midnight with an unobstructed wide, open sky.

Let your eyes adjust to the dark and look towards the constellation of Orion. You will not need binoculars or a telescope as the shower will be visible to the naked eye.

The weather has turned increasingly unsettled this week, with cloud and rain interspersed with clearer intervals and misty conditions.

The lack of moonlight due to a new Moon will help your chance of spotting some meteors.

While meteor activity will start to decrease after the peak, there will still be a good opportunity to catch some shooting stars - meteors - in Scotland on Wednesday night.

But otherwise elsewhere across the UK, cloud and rain will spread northwards and obstruct any view of the night sky.

By the end of the week, clearer and colder conditions are expected to develop, with better night-sky viewing prospects towards the later stages of the Orionids. And, if you missed the peak, the display continues until 7 November.

Keep across your local forecast on the BBC Weather website or app.

The Orionids can be viewed in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres during the hours after midnight.

How best to view them depends on which hemisphere you are in.

Nasa recommends anyone hoping to see the shower lies flat on their back with feet facing south-east if they are in the Northern Hemisphere or north-east if they in the Southern Hemisphere and looks up, external.

According to the American Meteor Association, the only obstacles to seeing them are cloud cover and city lights, external.