STARGAZERS in west Wales may be able to catch a glimpse of shooting stars later tonight as the annual Draconid meteor shower hits its peak.

The meteor shower occurs every year in early October when the Earth passes through a cloud of cometary dust with up to 10 shooting stars an hour visible when skies are clear.

Much of Wales is covered by cloud this evening, but the Met Office is forecasting a clearing in cloud cover along the west coast of Wales 10pm and 1am tonight, when the meteor shower will be at its peak.

The Draconid meteor shower comes from the debris cloud of comet 21 P/Giacobini-Zinner, a relatively small comet at 1.24 miles wide.

When the debris cloud, consisting of rocks and dust particles, interacts with air molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, viewers looking up at the sky can see bright lights from the interactions.

The best way to watch a meteor shower is from a point with little or no light pollution and clear skies, which makes spots like the Cambrian Mountains and Snowdonia ideal locations to see the astral display.

According to the Royal Observatory in Grenwich, the rate of meteors during the shower’s peak depend upon which part of the comet’s trail the Earth orbit intersects on any given year.

In recent years, the Draconids have not produced any particular outbursts in activity. However, in 1933 and 1946 the Draconids produced some of the most active displays in the 20th Century.

Generally, only a few Draconids are visible per hour. However, this year’s meteor shower falls just after the new moon, meaning more meteors may be visible in tonight’s sky since the thin waxing crescent moon creates less light interference.