| Lyrids Meteor Shower April 22, 2018 ⬅︎ |
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Most people love meteor showers -- the streaks of light come and go so quickly. One never knows when or where the next one will appear. Meteors, also known as shooting stars, are just tiny pieces of rock and dust left behind by passing comets. When they collide with earth's atmosphere, their great speeds cause the flashes of light that we see as they burn up.
The Lyrics are fast-moving, and many appear as brilliant streaks across the sky. They are usually around magnitude +2 -- about the brightness of Polaris. But some are very bright and can leave behind smokey trails. Counts typically range from 5 to 20 meteors per hour.
The radiant of the meteor shower is located in the constellation Hercules. Look between Vega and the Keystone of Hercules. The shower usually peaks around April 22 - 23.
The Lyrics are associated with Comet Thatcher which has an orbital period of about 415 years. The Lyrids have been observed for the past 2600 years.
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