Lyrid meteor shower to shoot across UK skies this week

Spring is when many of us look forward to more daylight, sunshine and warmer weather, but it is also a great time in the calendar to look up in the night sky.

This year we've had aurora displays, a partial solar eclipse, and for another 5 days, with clear skies permitting, you can enjoy the Lyrid meteor shower.

This celestial event happens every year between mid to late April, visible as short-lived streaks of light in the sky.

This year they will be active from 16 to 25 April, and will peak on Tuesday.

As this coincides with the Moon's last quarter, viewing conditions should be better, and of course the best time to spot them will be when the skies are at their darkest and clearest.

Meteor showers happen when dust from a passing comet or asteroid passes through the Earth's atmosphere. The tiny particles - roughly the size of a grain of sand - vaporise creating visible streaks of light.

As the Earth passes through the most dense section of the dust stream more meteors are visible and for the Lyrids a maximum of around 18 meteors an hour are likely.

In some years, however, this can intensify and there can be 100 meteors every hour, but it is very difficult to known when this will happen.

The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, with observations dating back 2,700 years.

The fireballs are created by debris from Comet Thatcher, which takes more than 400 years to orbit the Sun and was discovered in 1861 by A. E. Thatcher.

They are named after the constellation Lyra and the radiant position, which is where the meteors appear to emanate from, is south-west of the star Vega.

Clear, dark skies will always provide the best chance to see meteors as bright light can make them difficult to spot.

So try to avoid times when the moon at its brightest and if you can, stay away from too much light pollution. Be patient, as it will generally take 15 to 20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the darkness.

Wrap up warm and be careful not to crane your neck - maybe sit back in a deckchair and give yourself plenty of breaks.

The weather prospects for the coming days are looking a little mixed.

The blocked weather pattern that brought persistent high pressure and dry weather in early April gave way to something much more changeable.

Overnight into Easter Monday, low pressure will bring cloud and rain to many areas, which will obscure the view at times. The best chance of clearer interludes will be in the east.

Monday night will bring better prospects of clearer skies more widely.

The exact hour-by-hour forecast will vary depending on where in the UK you are, so best to check your local forecast - as well as the sunrise and sunset times - on the BBC Weather website or app.