THE LYRID meteor shower is set to peak tomorrow morning and you can spot the shooting stars in the sky tonight.
The Lyrids happen each April and occur when Earth’s orbit takes it through a comet’s tail.
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The meteor shower is made from falling debris from the comet Thatcher.
It gets its name from the Lyra constellation as sometimes the meteors look like they’re radiating from a place near that location.
However, you don’t necessarily need to look in a certain area as the meteors can appear all over the sky.
The Lyrid shower is one of the oldest known, with records of visible meteors going back 2,700 years.
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At its peak, you could see between 10 and 20 meteors an hour.
How to watch the Lyrid meteor shower
The best time to take a look is in the early hours of Thursday morning before sunrise.
The Moon is quite full this week so its shine may make things trickier for stargazers.
If you can wait till moonset you’ll have more luck spotting comet tails.
Moonset will be about 4:30am in the UK and 4am on the US East Coast.
Don’t worry if you’re not an early riser though, you can also try looking for the meteors tonight and until April 30.
Try looking east to northeast around midnight and go to dark location.
The good news is you don’t need any special equipment to see them but take warm clothes if you’re going outside for a long time.
Nasa’s website says: “Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible.
“After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors.”
It added: “It is actually better to view the Lyrids away from their radiant: They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective.
“If you do look directly at the radiant, you will find that the meteors will be short—this is an effect of perspective called foreshortening.”
The Lyrids have been known to ‘show off’ in previous years with around 100 meteors per hour.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
