Clouds to spoil view of Leonid meteor showers in Scotland

Stargazers will have their eyes on the skies this weekend with the Leonid meteor shower set to sparkle across the UK.

The prolific meteor shower has been active from November, 6-30, and peak across the weekend of November, 17–18.

The best time to catch a sight of the meteor shower this weekend is between midnight and dawn.

The comet follows its path around the sun, it leaves a path of tiny debris.

The Leonid meteor shower is associated with the Comet Tempel-Tuttle and the debris will enter our planet’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second.

It gets its name as it appears to emerge from the head of the Leo the Lion constellation in the sky.

Will the Leonid meteor shower be visible in Scotland?

The Leonid is usually one of the more prolific annual meteor showers, with fast, bright meteors shooting, however, stargazers will have a tough job of catching the it over the weekend.

STV weather presenter Philip Petrie said: “Friday night starts off dry and clear early evening with north-eastern parts of the country holding onto the clear skies for longer

“This is allowing temperatures to drop away quite quickly initially, with a touch of frost forming around parts of the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire. Further south we could see some early mist and fog patches forming.

“However, by around 7pm we start to see a frontal system creeping in from the south west that will cause the cloud to thicken, a band of rain to spread in and the winds to strengthen. So things will turn unsettled overnight.

“Through the early hours this band of cloud and rain will continue to spread north eastwards, so unfortunately we aren’t likely to have many dark, clear skies in order to see the Leonids tonight.

“Tomorrow morning the rain will continue to move through, with further heavy, blustery showers following behind through the afternoon – so it’s an unsettled start to the weekend with low pressure dominating, and not much change for the rest of the weekend.”