Lyrid meteor shower - tonight/tomorrow
Carlos_dfc
Posts: 8,262 Forum Member
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If you're outside, after dark, tonight or tomorrow night (and assuming it's not too cloudy) - keep an eye upwards to the North and East for meteors.
As comets go round the Sun, they leave behind a trail of debris - mostly dust particles, but occasionally, larger pieces. The Earth passes through quite a few of these dust trails as it goes around the Sun, and when the particles enter the atmosphere, they produce an increased rate in meteors (or shooting stars) as they burn up in the atmosphere - if one of the larger pieces enters the atmosphere, it can produce a spectacular 'fireball' meteor.
Every April we pass through the trail left behind by comet Thatcher, which produces the annual 'Lyrid' meteor shower.
The 'Lyrids' appear to radiate from the constellation 'Lyra' (hence their name) which will be to the North-east from around 10pm-midnight - East at around 2am - and wil be south-East just before dawn.
Here is a chart of the area I just knocked up, looking NorthEast at around 11pm.
Look for the 'cross' shape of Cygnus (the swan), and above that, the bright star Vega - you can't miss it, it's the brightest star in that part of the sky.
The focal point of the shower is very close to Vega, so any Lyrid meteors will appear to be heading away from it.
http://www.myimghost.com/getimg/ne22040611pm1.jpg
They will be pretty random, and can head in any direction away from Vega.
If you happen to see any meteors which are not heading away from Vega, they are not part of the shower, and are known as 'sporadic'
Centre of the peak is around 5pm BST, tomorrow (sat 22nd Apr), and the Lyrid shower has a pretty narrow peak period compared to other showers - which means that rates will only be high within about 24hrs either way of the peak -
which narrows down the viewing times to tonight and tomorrow night.
Peak rate is expected to be about 20 per hour, and most will be quite fast 'streaks' - but the Lyrid shower has been known to produce the occasional fireball. For best results, you need to be away from city lighting - light pollution will dramatically reduce the amount you'll be able to see.
Also - If you have binoculars - Look high to the South-east for a bright, orangey looking star - Arcturus. To the left of Arcturus is a fainter backwards 'C' shape of stars (Corona Borealis) - around that 'C' shape, look for some faint fuzzy 'blobs' - Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann has fragmented, and 3 of the bigger pieces are visible in binoculars - currently heading eastwards-ish, towards Hercules. The frebments will be brightest during May, when they will track across Lyra and Cygnus.
As comets go round the Sun, they leave behind a trail of debris - mostly dust particles, but occasionally, larger pieces. The Earth passes through quite a few of these dust trails as it goes around the Sun, and when the particles enter the atmosphere, they produce an increased rate in meteors (or shooting stars) as they burn up in the atmosphere - if one of the larger pieces enters the atmosphere, it can produce a spectacular 'fireball' meteor.
Every April we pass through the trail left behind by comet Thatcher, which produces the annual 'Lyrid' meteor shower.
The 'Lyrids' appear to radiate from the constellation 'Lyra' (hence their name) which will be to the North-east from around 10pm-midnight - East at around 2am - and wil be south-East just before dawn.
Here is a chart of the area I just knocked up, looking NorthEast at around 11pm.
Look for the 'cross' shape of Cygnus (the swan), and above that, the bright star Vega - you can't miss it, it's the brightest star in that part of the sky.
The focal point of the shower is very close to Vega, so any Lyrid meteors will appear to be heading away from it.
http://www.myimghost.com/getimg/ne22040611pm1.jpg
They will be pretty random, and can head in any direction away from Vega.
If you happen to see any meteors which are not heading away from Vega, they are not part of the shower, and are known as 'sporadic'
Centre of the peak is around 5pm BST, tomorrow (sat 22nd Apr), and the Lyrid shower has a pretty narrow peak period compared to other showers - which means that rates will only be high within about 24hrs either way of the peak -
which narrows down the viewing times to tonight and tomorrow night.
Peak rate is expected to be about 20 per hour, and most will be quite fast 'streaks' - but the Lyrid shower has been known to produce the occasional fireball. For best results, you need to be away from city lighting - light pollution will dramatically reduce the amount you'll be able to see.
Also - If you have binoculars - Look high to the South-east for a bright, orangey looking star - Arcturus. To the left of Arcturus is a fainter backwards 'C' shape of stars (Corona Borealis) - around that 'C' shape, look for some faint fuzzy 'blobs' - Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann has fragmented, and 3 of the bigger pieces are visible in binoculars - currently heading eastwards-ish, towards Hercules. The frebments will be brightest during May, when they will track across Lyra and Cygnus.
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Comments
Yeah! the Leonids usually have the highest rate
Lyrids about 20/hour at peak (5pm and light here
thanks for your post though and it is great to see this sort of post, well great for me and i am sure there are others who are interested too.
i am off out with the husband for a meal tonight, so when we get back and he is snoring i will pop out and have a look. i remeber the first time i went out to see the loenids and was fortunate to see a great display, and was totally blown away by what i had seen. i have also tracked sun spots and have seen a great northern lights display, love the fact that everyone is tucked up in bed and not realising what thet are missing!!
when i first took my husband out to see the leonids we watched from some old castle ruins near where we live, and he too was amazed that there seemed to be hardly any fuss in the media etc, and was hooked too!
Thanks for pointing this out, we should have some clear skies over the weekend, what part of the sky should i look at?
(WoW!, someone resurrected an 8 year old thread....)
The Lyrids should be pretty much in the same place - Meteor showers like this one are a regular yearly thing. The general position of the radiant, and the part of the sky you need to look, don't change from year to year - it's just the time, and sometimes date, of the peak that varies.
The peak for 2014 is expected in the early hours of Tuesday 22nd - so the best night is expected to be that of 21st/22nd (Mon/Tues)
You could see Lyrids any night now though, through to about the 25th - the shower builds slowly, for about a week, towards the peak - then fades off after the peak over the following 3 days or so.
*Ignore the info about the comet in the first post - It's long gone.