Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight: How to see shooting stars


Stargazers in Taiwan will have a chance to view the Lyrid meteor shower when it reaches its peak in the early hours of April 23, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said on Saturday.

Different skywatching organizations have been pinning the meteor shower's peak on different nights as it continues through both April 21-22 and April 22-23. Vega is one of the brightest stars in the night sky but NASA advises against concentrating too much on where the shower appears to come from, a spot known as its radiant.

Look up: It's the Lyrid meteor shower!

"Simply find a dark, open sky away from artificial lights", the US space agency writes on its website.

According to astronomers, observers will be able to see 20 to 30 meteors per hour at its peak. The site also cautions against using telescopes and binoculars, since the showers take up the entire sky and the tools will only narrow the viewer's scope.

Can you still see the Lyrid meteors tonight?

There hasn't been a meteor shower to light up the sky since early January, and this one will be visible around the globe. Find an area well away from city or street lights. "Its glare will drown out all but the brightest Lyrids".

Then, when the Earth passes through this dusty trail, the meteors burst into the atmosphere, proving bright streaks of light across the dark sky.

Lyrid meteors are bits of the Comet Thatcher, which is a comet that orbits the sun once every 415 years. Whatever night you observe here are some extremity for observing the fuming dust and debris abandoned by Comet Thatcher in its journey across the solar system.