The Lyrid meteor shower will illuminate the Earth’s sky, tonight until tomorrow morning, Saturday, April 23, and the dazzling celestial show will be visible throughout the globe’s sky, with about 18 meteors falling per hour.
Meteor showers, or falling stars, occur when pieces of debris known as meteorites enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 43 miles per second, causing them to burn up, causing streaks of light to illuminate the sky.
The Lyrid meteor shower takes its name from the constellation Lyra, and these meteorites are pieces of debris falling from Comet Thatcher, which is expected to return to the inner solar system in 2276, after an orbital period of 415 years.
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As with all meteor showers, in order to see the Lyrids, it is necessary to find a dark location with an unobstructed view of the sky.
Knowing that this year’s Lyrids shower began on April 14, two days before the full moon, reaching its peak on April 22-23, two days before the last quarter moon, so conditions are not conducive to seeing it easily.
Jacob Foster, an astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich said: “The Lyrid meteor shower is one of the largest of the year. Meteor showers are spread across the sky, so you should look to the northeast on the night of the 22nd of this month to see a few of them. With the need to make sure you get an unobstructed view of the sky to increase your chances of spotting it.”
He added: “At the height of the meteor shower, we can expect to see up to 18 meteors per hour.. This will not require any kind of specialized viewing equipment to see meteors, but only clear skies.”
And if star-watching fans miss the event, they’ve had enough of exploring the sky, there’s still plenty to look for as Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Moon line the horizon on Sunday.