Shooting stars are set to provide a dazzling display of celestial fireworks across the UK on Thursday night.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100811/tuk-mete...23e80.html

Experts said the annual Perseid meteor shower, which occurs each August, would be one of the most spectacular in recent years.

Conditions for watching the meteors were likely to be near perfect, with dark moonless nights and clear skies over much of the country.

Every August, the Earth ploughs through a swarm of dusty particles shed by passing comet Swift-Tuttle.

As the particles, each no bigger than a grain of sand, hit the atmosphere at 135,000mph they burn up, producing trails of light that shoot across the sky.

Awesome!