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2d ago

Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks Overnight Tuesday Into Wednesday With Favorable Dark Skies

Moonset creates prime pre-dawn viewing for Northern Hemisphere watchers under clear skies.

This long-exposure photograph taken on April 23, 2015 on Earth Day shows Lyrids meteors passing near the Milky Way in the clear night sky of Thanlyin, nearly 14 miles away from Yangon in Myanmar.
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Overview

  • The Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak late Tuesday into early Wednesday, with about 10 to 20 meteors per hour under typical conditions, according to NASA.
  • The best viewing comes after the crescent Moon sets around 2 a.m. local time, when the shower’s radiant is higher and skies are darkest.
  • AccuWeather projects the clearest U.S. skies from the Southwest across the Plains into the Midwest, with poorer views in the Pacific Northwest, much of Texas and Louisiana, and parts of the Northeast.
  • Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere will have the advantage if they head to dark, rural sites and let their eyes adjust for 20 to 30 minutes.
  • The Lyrids come from debris shed by Comet Thatcher and have been logged for about 2,700 years, with rare outbursts reaching roughly 100 meteors per hour.