Winter Solstice will dazzle stargazers TONIGHT with a meteor shower and full moon – here’s how to spot them
Viewers will have plenty of time to spot tonight's events, as the sun is due to set at 3:53pm
Today is the shortest day of the year, and Winter Solstice 2018 is primed to dazzle amateur stargazers.
A full moon will appear in the early night sky this evening right before a peak showing of the Ursid meteor shower.
The annual shower occurs as debris from Comet 8P/Tuttle hits our atmosphere, sparking as many as five to ten shooting stars an hour.
Viewers will have plenty of time to spot tonight's celestial events, as the sun is due to set at 3:53pm.
Provided the skies are clear, stargazers will have their best chance at seeing Ursid by heading to a dark spot and looking to the night sky after midnight.
While much of the country is due for cloudy weather, parts of the South, Midlands and Wales will see clear patches in the early hours of Saturday morning.
If you're planning on looking out for the shooting stars, it's best to try and get out of the city and away from the bright lights.
It's also a good idea to try to view the shower from an area with a dark sky and a really wide-viewing point.
You shouldn't need binoculars or a telescope - experts say it's actually easier to spot meteors with the naked eye as the objects move so quickly.
Make sure you put away your smartphone while you wait - this allows your eyes to adjust to the darkness, and makes it easier to spot space events.
Shooting stars are not actually stars, but small bits of space rock catching Earth's atmosphere.
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As the fragments drag against the air of the atmosphere, they heat up, creating a bright glow that is visible from Earth.
The objects nearly always burn up in our atmosphere before reaching the planet's surface, and pose no real threat to humans.
The Ursids are an annual event, beginning around December 17 and running until just after Christmas Day.
Even without the meteor shower, it is rare to see a full moon appear on the Winter Solstice.
The two last concurred in 2010, and the next one won’t be until 2094.
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