Northern England and southern Scotland the best places to view meteor shower

Star-gazers are in for a special treat tonight as one of the year's most spectacular meteor showers reaches its fiery peak.

The Geminids could see as many as 50 and 100 shooting stars every hour and could flare in different colours.

Northern England and southern Scotland are the best places to view the spectacle from 2am this evening, according to the Met Office - unless you are willing to stay up until the early hours.

"If you can stay out until the small hours, most places will be pretty good," says Dan Williams, a spokesman for the Met Office told ITV News.

You do not need a telescope or binoculars to see the meteors, although it is best to be in an area with clear skies, away from brightly lit urban areas.

As Dr John Mason of the British Astronomical Society, explains:

The best time to see the meteors will be at around 2am on Sunday when the "radiant" - the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate - is almost overhead, next to the constellation Gemini.

The Society for Popular Astronomy said conditions would be "perfect" for viewing the comets.

On Saturday the place to be is southern England and south-eastern Wales, where the showers should be visible from about 5pm, according to the Met Office.

"Elsewhere a fair bit of cloud around and that cloud spreads to all parts as the night goes on so it's the early part of the evening is better on Saturday in those areas," says Williams.

The official Geminid "maximum" is at 11am on Sunday but the daylight will prevent them from being seen.

By Sunday evening it will take some luck to see anything of the shower, according to Williams.

"Sunday night doesn't look particularly good anywhere because it lookslike fairly widespread cloud cover, some places may see some breaks but most places will be cloudy," he said.

The Geminids are unusual in that they are not shed by a classic icy comet but a body that shares characteristics of both comets and asteroids.

Known as 3200 Phaethon, the three-mile-wide object was discovered in 1983 by two British scientists examining Nasa satellite images and initially classified as an asteroid.

The Geminid meteor shower itself was first noted in the 1860s. Over time, it has become more intense, with up to 20 comets per hour reported in the 1920s, rising to 50 in the 1930s, 60 in the 1940s and 80 in the 1970s.

Travelling at some 22 miles per second, the meteors burn up about 24 miles above the Earth.

Another unusual feature of the Geminids is that they can shine in different colours. Mostly glowing white, they may also appear yellow, blue, green or red.