By Dan Hicks

Summer star Vega is now rising into our northeastern sky by 10 p.m. MDT, with Arcturus to its right – due east.

For country folk, Vega will be your guide to our modest Lyrid Meteor show radiant on the night of April 22, the precise peak of which occurs post-sunrise on April 23 at 7 a.m. – yielding a Zenithal Hourly Rate of 20 meteors per hour (compare with Perseidal ZHR of 90), meaning that our optimal viewing window will be from midnight of April 22 to the commencement of our dawn astronomical twilight at 4:26 a.m. on April 23.

The Lyrids originate from long-period 422-year cycle Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) whose rock and dust debris shed over eons of April visits, our precious Planet Earth ploughs through annually at this time; Thatcher’s next visit will be around AD 2283 (mark your calendars). Lyrids are active from April 17 to 26, plunge through our atmosphere at 48 kilometers per second (compare with Perseidal 60 km/sec), and can produce fireballs!

Lead image: Lyrid Meteor Shower radiant in the constellation Lyra, incoming Lyrid Meteors appear to radiate from this location in the sky. Skyandtelescope.org

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