Lyrid meteor shower

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Link: Lyrid meteor shower 2023: when and where to see it in the UK | Royal Museums Greenwich

 

In 2023, the Lyrid meteor shower will be active between 14-30 April and will peak on the night of 22-23 April.

 

What is the Lyrid meteor shower?

 

The Lyrid meteor shower is a burst of meteor activity occurring around mid to late April.

 

Meteors are small chucks of debris left in the wake of certain celestial objects, like asteroids or comets. When the Earth passes through this trail of material, it scoops up a number of these pieces which fall into the atmosphere.

 

These objects are moving extremely fast (about 50km/s) compared to the relatively still atmosphere. In fact, they fall so fast that the air in front of them can’t get out of the way fast enough, instead getting rapidly squashed and heating up.

 

This causes the surface of the meteor to reach temperatures as high 1600°C, glowing brightly, which is visible as a short-lived streak of light in the sky.

 

Most meteors are so small that they burn up well before they hit the ground. However a handful will get through, with the remnant left on the ground called a meteorite.

 

The Lyrid meteor shower is associated with long-period Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. It is the oldest recorded meteor shower still visible today, and was first recorded in 687 BCE.

 

While the Lyrid meteors will be visible all across the sky, following their path backwards they will appear to originate from the constellation of Lyra, the lyre, which contains the star Vega.

 

In reality the meteors have nothing to do with this distant group of stars. The direction they appear to come from is dictated by the motion of the Earth and the debris itself.

 

All of the meteors are coming in approximately parallel to one another, like lanes of traffic on a straight motorway. Our perspective makes them appear to travel sideways across the sky. Just as a person standing on the central reservation of the motorway will have cars pass on either side of them, the meteors will appear to diverge from the so-called radiant point in Lyra and streak across the sky in all directions.

 

Very rarely a meteor will be particularly bright, with those appearing brighter than any of the planets (Venus being typically the brightest) classed as a fireball.

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Ta, we're due clear skies here for the next couple of nights. Will have to wrap up and get a garden chair out