Science & Nature

Tonight You Can Look for the Lyrids, the Year’s First Meteor Shower. Here’s How to View in Chicago

The first meteor shower of the year is here, with the Lyrids peaking late tonight into the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday.

Here’s what you need to know to catch the show.

When to Look

The Lyrids will be active through Friday, but tonight is peak viewing, starting around midnight.

Under dark skies, the best time to catch the meteors would be 3 a.m. to 4 a.m., but the moon will be rising and obscuring the dimmer Lyrids. So experts recommend either finding an object — such as a tree — to block the moon, keep the moon at your back, or head out while the moon is low on the horizon.

Where to Look

The meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra. Adler Planetarium recommends looking for the bright star Vega to find Lyra, which will rise higher in the night sky the closer it gets to dawn.

Because meteors radiate, they can appear in all parts of the sky. Just have patience and look up, allowing a half hour or so for your eyes to adjust to the dark — that means putting away your phone and other sources of extraneous light.

What to See

Lyrids aren’t as prolific as some other meteor showers, producing 10-15 bursts an hour. But Lyrids are also famous for uncommon surges of 100 meteors per hour, according to EarkySky.

Some Lyrids can leave bright trails that last for seconds.

Why Is This Happening?

Every April, Earth passes through a stream of debris generated by Comet Thatcher. According to NASA: Bits of this debris “collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.” That’s the Lyrids.

The Lyrids have been observed for nearly 3,000 years, but their source — Comet Thatcher — wasn’t discovered until 1861.

---