Overview
- The annual Lyrids reach their maximum Wednesday night, with the best viewing from about midnight until dawn.
- Following Tuesday night's early sightings in Lower Saxony, Germany’s weather service expects clear skies in central and southern regions, while northern areas may see cloud cover.
- Under dark, rural skies observers can expect about 15 to 20 meteors per hour, with only a thin crescent moon to dim the view.
- The streaks come from dust shed by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) hitting the atmosphere at roughly 50 kilometers per second, and rates improve as the radiant in Lyra climbs high before dawn.
- Those under clouds can turn to livestreams from dark-sky sites like Mauna Kea and Chile’s Atacama Desert, with some feeds using radio to make meteor hits audible as short “pings.”