Meteor Shower - April 2021

THE 2021 LYRID METEOR SHOWER

Early morning on Earth Day (April 22), the annual Lyrid meteor showers will grace us! What a way to start the day. One of the oldest known meteor showers, the first recorded sighting of the Lyrids dates back to 687 BC in China—more than 2,700 years ago! In dark skies, it’s a moderately active meteor shower with 10 to 20 meteors per hour.

The best viewing time for the Lyrids is moonset (April 21) to dawn (April 22), peaking in the predawn hours.

from ALMANAC dot-com (Old Farmer's Almanac)

Lyrids | April 21–22, 2021

The Lyrids reach their peak on the night of April 21–22, 2021, when you can expect to see an average of 10 meteors per hour in dark, clear skies between midnight and dawn. Rarely, the Lyrids produce surges of up to 100 meteors per hour.

This meteor shower is visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, but is much more active in the Northern Hemisphere, where the meteors’ radiant is high in the sky. This year, the Moon will be in a waxing gibbous phase during the Lyrids’ peak, so the best viewing will be between moonset and dawn on April 22.