STARGAZERS have evenings filled with dazzling shooting star displays to look forward to this week.
The Lyrids meteor shower will grace night skies above the U.S. and U.K. throughout April – and will peak on Friday.
2
Lyrids meteor shower
The dazzling Lyrid meteor shower began last week and you can spot the shooting stars throughout this month.
This year’s showing continues until April 30 and is due to peak on the night of April 22, when about 18 “shooting stars” will appear per hour.
Last week, stargazers were only able to see a few sporadic meteors in any 60-minute period.
This week, however, with the shower’s peak on the horizon, you’ll have far more opportunities to spot one.
The Lyrids happen each April and occur when Earth’s orbit takes it through a comet’s tail.
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.
Most read in News Tech
The Lyrid shower is one of the oldest known, with records of visible meteors going back 2,700 years.
The best time to spot the meteors is early in the morning or in the evening before the moon rises.
2
Pink Moon
Over the first few days of this week, stargazers will have an opportunity to spot this year’s Pink Moon.
It was at its brightest on the evening of April 16, kicking off about half an hour before sunset at 8.27 p.m.
While that was the best night to see the Pink Moon, it will look large and bright for a few days around this date.
It should look bright and full in the sky but won’t necessarily be pink.
The practice of naming full moons dates back to Native American culture.
Tribes kept track of the seasons with distinct names for each month’s full moon.
Because a moon month is slightly shorter than our calendar months, the dates of the full moons shift slightly from year-to-year.
But months they appear in stay the same, and every year we see a Pink Moon in April.
The term comes from the moss pink herb, or wild ground phlox flower, which is widespread by spring.
Other names for this particular orb include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon or the Full Fish Moon.
You shouldn’t necessarily expect it to look pink – in fact, it will look much like any other full moon.
Best Phone and Gadget tips and hacks
Looking for tips and hacks for your phone? Want to find those secret features within social media apps? We have you covered…
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]
This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
