The sky will be dark and moonless for at least three hours before the first light of dawn on Sunday morning, April 22, when the annual Lyrid meteor shower is due to reach its peak.
The shower remains above one-half of its peak strength for about a day or two, centered on the shower’s maximum.
The meteors are called “Lyrids” because their paths, if extended backward, appear to diverge from a spot in the sky not too far to the southwest of the brilliant bluish-white star Vega, in the constellation of Lyra the Lyre. Within a day on either side of the maximum, about 5 to 10 Lyrids can usually be seen each hour by a single observer under good skies. At the peak, the Lyrid rate is roughly 10 to 20 per hour.
Vega appears to rise from the northeast around 9 p.m. local daylight time, but by 4 a.m. it has climbed to a point in the sky nearly overhead. You might want to lie down on a long lounge chair where you can get a good view of the sky. Bundle up too, for while it won’t be a cold as on a winter’s night, nights in April can still be quite chilly. Otherwise, meteor watching is a pretty simple endeavor, requiring no special equipment.
