Lyrid Meteors Peak: Will Full Pink Moon Outshine Fireballs In NJ?

NEW JERSEY — After a three-month drought, meteor showers are back, starting the Lyrids, which peak overnight Sunday and Monday. Whether you’ll be able to see the shooting star show, known for its fireballs, depends on weather conditions in New Jersey.

The forecast calls for sunny skies with daytime temperatures in the high 50s on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday night will see some clouds and temperatures around 40 degrees before sunny skies and springlike temperatures in the 60s return to the region Monday.

The nearly full pink moon — so-called because this is the time of year pink ground phlox and other wildflowers begin blooming — could be a problem, though. The moon turns full on Tuesday and will be bright enough that it may wash out all but the brightest shooting stars.

The Lyrid meteor shower is an average sky show, producing about 15 or 20 shooting stars an hour, but it historically has produced bright fireballs that blaze across the sky and leave dust trails that last for several seconds, according to NASA. Fireballs can be bright enough to penetrate bright moonlight.

The Lyrids can fire off a surprise, though, with counts of as many as 100 shooting stars an hour, according to NASA. Sightings of these heavier showers occurred in Virginia in 1803, in Greece in 1922, Japan in 1945 and the United States in 1982.

As with most meteor showers, this one is best viewed in the early morning hours before dawn. Find a dark sky, take along a reclining lawn chair if you can and blankets to keep you warm. Although meteor showers do have radiant points — in this case, it’s in the constellation Lyra, close to Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky — but you don’t have to locate it to see shooting stars, which will appear all over the sky.

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The Lyrid meteor shower runs until April 29, intersecting with the Eta Aquariids, which offer a much better chance to see shooting stars. Sometimes called the Eta Aquarids, the meteor shower rambles along from April 15 to May 27, peaking around May 5-6, when the moon will appear about 14 percent full.

The Eta Aquariids have a broad peak, and that means skywatchers may see elevated numbers of meteors a few days before and after the peak. At the peak, about 30 meteors may be seen an hour, although as many as 60 an hour have been reported, according to NASA.

They’re known for speed, entering Earth’s atmosphere at about 148,000 miles an hour, and also for leaving glowing “trains” — incandescent bits of debris — that last for several seconds to minutes.