This weekend, the Lyrid meteor shower will arrive in the night sky near you, following the customary wintertime slowdown in meteor shower activity here on Earth. The peak is predicted on the night of April 21-22.
According to the American Meteor Society, a substantial waning gibbous moon will rise between 1-2 a.m., obscuring all but the brightest meteors. The best time to look for meteors this year, according to the AMS, is between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., while the sky is still dark.
EarthSky.org said the ideal time to see the Lyrids in 2022 is an hour before local midnight before the moon rises or reaches a high altitude in the sky.
CNET recommends that you watch the episode as soon as possible to have the best chance of seeing it. Find a site with a wide, clear view of the sky free of light pollution.
Lyrid Meteor Shower April 2022
According to the American Meteor Society, the Lyrid Meteor Shower begins on Friday, April 15, and peaks a week later on April 22, with 10 to 15 fireballs per hour. This is the case because Earth travels through a dusty tray of crumbs left behind by distant comets and asteroids every year.
When comet crumbs meet with Earth's atmosphere, they erupt into blazing fragments, leaving multicolored streaks across the night sky at the same time every year.
According to NASA, the Lyrids have been observed for almost 2,700 years, making them one of the oldest known showers.
The Lyrid meteor shower can produce up to 100 outbursts every hour as seen in the sky. According to EarthSky, in 1982, American watchers witnessed an outburst of approximately 100 Lyrid meteors per hour. In 1945, Japanese astronomers observed around 100 meteors per hour, whereas Greek watchers saw the same number in 1922.
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This sporadic outburst has helped the Lyrids become so well-known throughout history. IFL Science said one of the most remarkable showers in history was the Lyrids peak in 1803, when a writer in Richmond, Virginia, reported up to 700 meteors per hour falling down.
A nearly 2,000-year-old occurrence was reported in the Zuo Zhuan, an ancient Chinese narrative history, as the "stars poured like rain" in 687 BCE during a Lyrids meteor shower. This meteor shower has even been described in Australian Indigenous Astronomy, which dates back millennia.
About Lyrids Meteor Shower
Lyrids are fragments of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher's wreckage. Each year in mid-April, Earth collides with a stream of comet debris, resulting in a meteor shower.
According to Astronomy magazine, the Lyrids begin as tiny bits of dust that reach Earth's atmosphere at 109,600 mph, vaporizing due to friction with the air and leaving behind the streaks of light we call meteors.
The magazine added that the meteors come from the constellation Lyra the Harp, near the brilliant star Vega, which rises late at night and passes close above long before dawn.
According to NASA, the Lyrids are noted for their brilliant and swift meteors, albeit not as bright or as numerous as the famed August Perseids.
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