You will be able to see the Taurid meteor shower in the night sky across Australia on Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday, but is it worth staying up all night for it?

Jonti Horner from the University of Southern Queensland said by all means, if you're up, then watch it, but it may be a little underwhelming.

"For the general public, I wouldn't recommend setting an alarm to get up and observe it," he said.

The Taurids are known for producing very bright fireballs.

The difference between a meteor and a fireball comes down to brightness, and fireballs are a lot brighter than a meteor.

They are a lot bigger too, fireballs can be more than 1-metre wide. The bigger the brighter.

As well as producing bright fireballs, the Taurids create longer-lasting meteors than other showers which makes it ideal for photographers.

"The Taurid meteor shower gets experts excited," Professor Horner said.

"It is good for photographers too, because of the relatively slow and brighter meteors."

How can you see it?

If you are choosing to stay up, then you're going to need to know how to see it.

The good news is, the Moon will only be a slim crescent on Monday night.

That means it is ideal viewing conditions for the meteor shower which can be seen from every state and territory.

To see it best, find a spot with a clear view of the night sky, ideally away from bright lights or a city centre. Anywhere along the coast will be good.

Professor Horner said it is going to be best seen in the early hours, about 1am to 2am.

"Be prepared for a long night if you are staying up for it. I'd say from 11pm to the hours before dusk will be best for viewing," he said.

"The shower will be at its peak around 1am to 2am, but you will see some meteors from around 9 or 10pm."

The best advice though is to find a dark location and give your eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the dark.

What causes it?

The Taurid meteor shower is caused by the debris that comes from a comet called Encke.

Encke was once part of a larger comet that broke up about 20,000 years ago and we are still seeing the remnants of it in these showers today.

"That is something that is nice about the Taurid meteor shower, it has a rich heritage in our night sky," Professor Horner said.

"It all comes from the biggest swathe of debris in our solar system.

As the comet passes through our solar system, fragments of it enter Earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds and create fireballs.

Fireballs are significantly brighter than meteors, and because of that, they can be seen in urban environments.

Meteors happen all the time, but during a shower it is more exciting for astronomers because there's a higher frequency of them.

Every meteor shower is ranked on a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) and that determines the number of meteors you would see per hour in perfect conditions.

The Taurid meteor shower has a ZHR of 15. There are some showers that have a ZHR of 150.

What are the best meteor showers in Australia?

Thirsty for more? Here are some other great meteor showers that can be seen from Australia.

One of those is coming up soon, in mid-December the Geminid meteor shower will be at its peak.

"The Geminid meteor shower will peak around the 13th or 14th of December and it is much stronger than Taurid," Professor Horner said.

"This year there will be a full Moon during the Geminid shower but even so you'll see plenty of meteors."

Going to next year, another good meteor shower in the Southern Hemisphere is the Eta Aquariid meteor shower.

This shower is visible during May every year and you can see over 20 meteors per hour.

Those two meteor showers are Professor Horner's "two favourite meteor showers in the Southern Hemisphere".