It’s true what they say: the best things in life really are free…and one of them is the ability to simply gaze up at the night sky in awe of a breathtaking astral phenomenon.
The skies above the Northern Hemisphere are about to get a lot more interesting, as the Lyrid meteor shower takes place between April 16th to 25th.
The Lyrid meteor shower occurs every year as debris from the wake of Comet Thatcher passes through the earth’s atmosphere.
According to Space.com, the meteor shower will peak just before dawn on Monday, April 22nd, although a waning gibbous moon will outshine the weaker meteors this year.
NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke stated to space.com that on average, the Lyrid shower produces 15 to 20 meteors per hour, and this year, we may see 20 shooting stars every hour.
Look to the northeast
The point where the meteors originate, or the radiant, will be high in the sky in the constellation Lyra, which lies northeast of one of the brightest stars visible at this time of year – Vega.
But experts say not to look directly at the radiant, because you may then miss some of the meteors with the longest tails.
Although not as prominent as the Perseid meteor shower in August, or as fast as the Leonid meteor shower in November, the Lyrids promise to be luminous enough to light up the skies just the same.
According to Cooke, the Lyrids are one of the oldest meteor showers known to man, going as far back as 687 B.C.
No special equipment is necessary for viewing it, so just grab a blanket, some snacks, and hot chocolate, and look up! You’re in for quite a show.