Stargazers and night sky lovers are in for a treat this weekend as a spectacular meteor shower fills the skies above Scotland.
The Perseids Meteor Shower is a celestial spectacle that will be visible across Scotland over the next few days.
The shower gets its name from the Perseid constellation and appears every year around August time.
Looking to be particularly bright this year, the best time to spot the shower will be between midnight and 5.30 am tonight Friday August 13, but will still be visible over the weekend too (weather dependent of course).
Visible to the naked eye you won't need any specialist equipment although capturing them with a decent camera is always a bonus.
Scottish stargazing expert Andrew Allan, 23, who runs the Scotland’s Nightsky Facebook page, has some handy tips to make the most of them.
Andrew, who has now also joined TikTok, said: "This weekend it's worth keeping an eye on the night sky, especially if the weather is clear.
"The best area of the sky to check is looking east but the meteors should fall over the whole night sky. The shower can produce up to 60 Meteors per hour, depending on the time of night."
Andrew's Perseids Meteor Shower Stargazing tips:
- The best areas to see are places with little light pollution and a clean view to the horizon. So the top of a hill is fantastic for this because you'll see more sky and improve your chances.
- The meteors are green in colour when they burn up so expect a few green fireballs
- The best area of the sky to view the show will be looking east as the radiant will be from the constellation of Perseus but the meteors will appear to fall all over the night sky.
- The best way to capture meteors on camera is to set up a Timelapse that takes 100s of images and hope that a shooting star falls in frame.
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