One of the meteor showers I look forward to every year is the Lyrids, which peaks this year on 22 April. Its display will be dampened this time round by the bright light of the waxing moon, but it is still worth finding a clear night to spot its shooting stars.
The best time to watch the Lyrids 鈥� or any meteor shower 鈥� is after midnight local time. The shower is expected to be active from 15 to 29 April, peaking between the evening of the 21st and the morning of the 22nd. So, look at the weather forecast around the peak and pick a time when it is likely to be clear, as this will have the biggest impact on whether or not you see any meteors.
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On a moon-free night, you can expect 10 to 15 meteors to be visible every hour during the Lyrids, but since the full moon is on the evening of 23 April this year, the fainter meteors will be obscured by its light. Try to avoid other sources of light pollution, too, like bright streetlamps.
The Lyrid meteor shower, pictured, is best viewed from the northern hemisphere because the point from which its meteors appear to come, known as the radiant, is only visible from there. But southern hemisphere stargazers might get lucky too, as meteors can streak across the sky in any direction.
To spot the radiant in the northern hemisphere, you need to start by tracking down the small constellation Lyra, which is named for Orpheus鈥檚 lyre in Greek mythology.
This is easy: first, find the pattern of stars known as the Summer Triangle, so named because it is made up of three bright stars in a triangle shape and, in summer in the northern hemisphere, around midnight, it appears directly overhead. In late April, at midnight, the three bright stars will appear near the eastern horizon. The highest of these is Vega, and this is in Lyra.
In the southern hemisphere, look towards the north for a chance of spotting some Lyrid meteors. But watch any direction of the sky long enough and you will probably see some.
On any given night stargazing, you can expect to see a meteor or two every hour. These flashes of light streaking across the sky are created by dust and debris hurtling into Earth鈥檚 atmosphere from space. The detritus is slowed down by molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy that is given off as light.
When Earth鈥檚 motion around the sun takes it into a patch of debris left behind by a comet or asteroid, we get meteor showers. The Lyrids are caused by the aftermath of a comet called C/1861 G1, or Thatcher, discovered in 1861. Thatcher takes 415 years to orbit the sun, and is thought to originate from an outer part of the solar system called the Oort Cloud.. It will be visible again around 2283.
Abigail Beall is a features editor at New Scientist and author of The Art of Urban Astronomy. Follow her @abbybeall
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