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Skygazers can expect a great treat this week because a meteor shower will light up the sky over the weekend. Here's everything you need to know about the annual Lyrids meteor shower.
How and When to Watch the Lyrids Meteor Shower
This shower's meteors will appear to originate from the Lyra constellation, which is most visible from the Northern Hemisphere. The phase of the moon greatly affects the viewing conditions for the Lyrids -- lower moonlight results in darker skies and better sight.
Regretfully, the moon will be exceptionally bright in the skies during its zenith on April 23 at around 23:49 UTC, which coincides with the full moon. Therefore, the best time to observe the Lyrids is after the moon sets and dawn breaks. The shower will peak on Sunday (April 21) and Monday (April 22) at 9: 23 UTC.
The meteor shower will start on April 15 and last until April 29. NASA suggests that interested observers face east and select a spot away from street and urban lights.
You can visit a rural area where the sky is as pure and dark as it gets. Look up into a clear, open sky.
However, make an effort to stand in the moon's shadow. Some of the brightest Lyrids may streak past in the moonlight if you can keep enough sky clear to observe meteors and still block out the moon.
One dazzling meteor can make your night. However, in a moonless, gloomy sky, you could view 10 to 15 Lyrids in an hour.
Since the meteor will peak when the moon is brilliant, you won't see as many. However, the Lyrids are renowned for their unusual surges, which can occasionally result in rates as high as 100 per hour!
Find a dark place where only the bright trail or streak of light from the meteor can illuminate the place. But give your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness. So, it's best to be at the best spot earlier before the expected peak time of the meteor shower.
"The best time to see these is after midnight on a moonless night, with as little light pollution as possible," said Don Pollacco, an astronomy professor at the University of Warwick in the U.K.
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What Is the Lyrids Meteor Shower?
The Lyrids meteor shower is one of the oldest meteor showers ever recorded. The Chinese made the earliest known observation of a Lyrid meteor shower in 687 BC. For 2,700 years, the Lyrids have illuminated the night sky annually.
The meteors of the Lyrids are renowned for being bright and swift. However, they are not as quick or frequent as the well-known Perseid meteor shower in August. Lyrids can nonetheless astound observers by displaying up to 100 meteors each hour.
These stronger showers were observed in Virginia in 1803, Greece in 1922, Japan in 1945, and the United States in 1982. During its peak, 10 - 20 Lyrid meteors can typically be observed every hour.
As they race through the Earth's atmosphere, Lyrids don't often leave behind long, blazing dust trains, but they occasionally shoot off blinding flashes known as fireballs.
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