This year’s Lyrids meteor shower will peak on the night of April 21 through April 22 this year. Fortunately the waxing crescent moon will cooperate as it will only by about 6% illuminated.

 

Meteor showers produce a number of what people call shooting stars but are really just particles of space debris - usually from the tail of a comet - that are burning up in the earth’s atmosphere.

 

The Lyrids meteor shower is produced by a comet named Thacher, discovered, according to NASA, on April 5, 1861 by A. E. Thatcher. It orbits the sun every 415 years but the earth passes through the remains of the comet's dusty trail causing the spectacle.

 

“The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers: they have been observed for 2,700 years,” NASA says on its website.

 

The Lyrids is one of the first major meteor showers of the season.

 

To see the Lyrid meteor shower go out from late night (just before midnight) on April 21 until dawn on April 22 and look to the northeast near the star Vega in the constellation Lyra. Expect to see about 18 meteors per hour.

 

Find a dark sky where you can observe and have fun!