Lyrids meteor shower peaks tonight: How to watch from home

Just in time for Earth Day, sky-watchers get a treat as the Lyrid meteor shower peaks late night on Wed. Apr. 22 into the following morning.

And with the moon setting mid-evening and leaving behind perfectly dark skies, this annual celestial fireworks show promises to put on a great performance and generate as many as 15 to 20 shooting stars per hour.

As with most other annual meteor showers, the Lyrids are produced by a cloud of tiny particles, each being no bigger than a grain of sand. Streams of this stuff float in space and are debris that has been shed from a passing comet.
Each time a comet makes a close flyby of the Sun, its ice begins to melt, releasing trapped grains and even rocks that settle into the same orbit as the parent comet has around the sun.

In the case of the Lyrids this week, the meteors all once called comet Thatcher their home. This dirty snowball loops around the sun every 415 years, last appearing in our neighbourhood back in 1861. The egg-shaped orbit of the comet and its train of debris field that follows it is actually slanted nearly perpendicularly to that of the plane of the solar system, and Earth’s orbit.
And astronomers believe that this skewed orbit may be the reason why the Lyrid clouds have remained largely intact, and are such a reliable annual meteor shower that has been known for many centuries.

While the comet itself is a rare sight, every year like clockwork in mid April, Earth and the the meteor stream’s orbit intersects and our planet slams into the debris field.

Like bugs splattering on the windshield of a high speed car, the individual particles slam into Earth’s atmosphere at amazingly high speeds, estimated to be around 100,000 to 200,000 km per hour. The friction with the dense air actually begins to ionize the meteor causing it to burn up within a fraction of a second in the upper atmosphere and producing that iconic streak of light we affectionately call a ‘shooting star’.

Keen skywatcher looking up at the Lyrids will notice that when tracing back those streaks of light that each meteor appears to radiate out from one particular part of the sky: the shower’s namesake constellation Lyra near its lead star Vega.

The star Vega is one of the brightest stars in the heavens—even easy to spot from bright cities—rising in the northeast around midnight this time of the year, so to catch most of the meteors, face the northeast sky beginning after nightfall.

By the time the meteor fall rates reach their peak in the predawn hours of Thursday, Vega will be shining nearly overhead, making it appear that meteors are radiating out in all directions of the sky.

If you’re thinking about using telescopes and binoculars forget it: the best way to catch the show is to just use the unaided eyes as the streaks of light can appear over large tracts of the sky and our eyes can soak in much of the overhead action. Also consider bringing out a reclining lawn chair, sleeping bag and some hot chocolate to enjoy this celestial shower.

In terms of location, try to find a viewing spot that has an open view of as much of the overhead sky as possible and head out of light polluted cities, into the dark countryside where more of the fainter meteors can be seen. Of course even if you are just watching from your suburban backyard, you can still see up to a half dozen shooting stars per hour, with the possibility of a few fireballs in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday.

But what happens if you get clouded out or are stuck indoors? Don’t fret because the astronomy outreach venture slooh.com has you covered with live webcasts of the Lyrid meteor shower with all-sky cameras set up in the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

The live broadcast will begin tonight, Apr. 22 at 5:00 PM PDT / 8:00 PM EDT / 00:00 UTC (8/22) - International Times.