Shropshire's dark skies perfect for star show

The Orionid meteor shower will peak tomorrow night.

That means a trip to the Shropshire Hills for many stargazers, who flock there because of its official designation as a Dark Skies Area.

National Trust car parks at Carding Mill Valley and the Long Mynd have been identified as places to gather.

Astronomer Pete Williamson, founder of Shropshire Astronomical Society, said other areas across the region, like Oswestry Racecourse Common and The Wrekin, were also perfect locations.

Tomorrow and Monday nights will be peak times for the shooting stars.

Pete also said the best time to catch the meteors was between 2am, when Orion rises in the sky, to 4am – but said it was worth going out any time between nightfall and dawn.

“We can expect to see around 20 to 30 per hour,” he explained.

“They are called the Orionids because they look like they are coming from the constellation of Orion.

Shoot

“When you say meteor shower people expect to say great big fireballs, but it’s really grains of dust caught in the atmosphere. They light up and shoot across the sky, which is why we call them shooting stars.”

The debris which causes this particular meteor shower comes from the famous Comet Halley, which was last visible to us on Earth in 1986.

There are several meteor showers throughout the year, with some of the most notable happening in August and December.

“The Orionids is one of the better ones we see,” said Alan Jones, who will be watching the show from Sundorne Observatory – which he built in his garden.

“They will be shooting across the sky so if you just look up and you should be able to see them.

“We usually go up to the Stiperstones or a nice dark area away from street lights, but as long as the sky is clear you should be able to see them from anywhere.”

However those hoping to watch the Orionids could encounter a couple of problems.

Jay Tate from the Spaceguard Centre at Knighton said: “We are going to have a bright moon, which will mean you won’t be able to see the meteors as well and the weather forecast is also not looking particularly good. My advice would be to go anywhere with a dark sky, and keep an eye on the weather forecast.”