Whether it’s less than two dozen or over 100 meteors per hour, the Lyrid meteor shower is about to bring a vibrant show in the night sky.
Starting Thursday, April 17, the Lyrid meteor shower is expected to go on until April 26, but it should hit its peak between April 21 and 22, according to NASA.
The Lyrids were first recorded in the night sky in China in 687 B.C.E., the space agency stated. Over the centuries, the typical peak number of bright and fast meteors rocketing across the sky is around 18 per hour, as fast as 29 miles per second.
But heavier showers have seen over 100 meteors per hour, with instances of this recorded in Virginia in 1803, Greece in 1922, Japan in 1945 and in the United States in 1982, NASA said.
For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, the meteor shower can best be seen during the dark hours after the moon sets or before dawn, according to NASA.
The best way to see the Lyrids is far away from any light-polluted areas like city or street lights. Bring along a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair, NASA recommended, and look up while you face east. Your eyes will adjust to the dark after 30 minutes, so you may not immediately start to see meteors flying overhead.
“Be patient — the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse,” NASA stated.
The radiant point, or place in the sky that the Lyrids should appear to come from, is toward the constellation Lyra, the harp, and the meteors’ namesake, according to the space agency. More specifically, they should appear to emerge from one star in the constellation and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, Vega.
However, NASA also recommends looking at the Lyrids away from their radiant point. Meteors should appear longer and better, whereas if you look directly at the radiant point, the meteors appear short, an effect of perspective called foreshortening.
