Lyrid Meteor Shower 2013: Where and When to Watch

The Lyrid meteor shower makes its 2013 debut in the skies above next week. 

The Lyrids meteor shower peaks in 2013 on April 21 and 22, but some meteors may be visible beginning on April 16. You can see what to look for in this video of the Lyrid meteor shower. Also, check out photos of the Lyrids. And these charts of the Lyrids may help you locate the shooting stars.

The Lyrids could peak at about 10-20 meteors per hour. One of the unpredictable aspects of this shower, though, is that it’s known for uncommon surges that sometimes result in up to 100 shooting starts per hour.

Bob Kelly of the Westchester Amateur Astronomers says this about the Lyrids in the WAA's April newsletter:

The Lyrid meteor shower is usually not much to talk about. This highly variable shower has produced a couple of mini-storms of over a meteor-a-minute, but we have too little data to determine when this could happen again. The best time to watch for the average of 10 meteors per hour is on the morning of April 22nd a few hours before sunrise, as the bright Moon is setting. Watch the part of the sky with the Moon at your back in order to see the most meteors.

Super-bright meteors have been reported much more often since the stupendous fireball in Russia last month (see http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/for a graphic with meteor terminology). While we hear more of these reports due to the increased sensitivity of the press to this kind of event, it’s also nice to see that more people are looking up and reporting what they see in the sky. With Astronomy Day on Saturday, the 20th, it’s a great time to introduce the sky and its wonders to friends and strangers alike.