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Have you ever seen a shooting star blaze across a dark night sky? It's an exciting sight, caused by the debris from a comet burning up in our atmosphere.

- Search for more on meteor showers

Comets leave a trail of dust and ice behind them, and when the Earth crosses this trail, this cosmic waste burns up in our atmosphere. From our perspective here on Earth, this gives the effect of a trail of light shooting across the sky. This trail of light is what we call a meteor, or a shooting or falling star.

Meteors can be seen all year round, but at certain times of year there is an extra burst of activity called a meteor shower. This happens when the Earth crosses the orbit of a comet. The Earth follows the same path around the Sun every year, so it always crosses a comet trail at the same point in its orbit, and we see meteor showers at the same time every year.

Each meteor in a shower appears to come from the same place in the sky, known as the 'radiant'. Each meteor shower is named after the constellation in which the radiant appears to be located. So, for example, the Geminids all appear to emanate from the constellation Gemini, and the Leonids seem to be coming from Leo.

The next major shower will be the Perseids, which will peak on 13 August. Why not check it out? You don't even need any special equipment, as a meteor shower is best observed through the naked eye.

Just position yourself somewhere warm and comfortable, and look up at the right part of the sky – in this case, the constellation Perseus, the hero.