astronomy
Lyrids in the night sky – chances of shooting stars
The starry sky shines over a rapeseed field in Schleswig-Holstein. photo
© Daniel Reinhardt/dpa
Every year the Earth passes through cometary debris in its orbit. The Lyrids could soon be observed.
In April, shooting star hunters will again have the chance to see burn-up comet debris in the night sky. The Lyrid meteor swarm will appear shortly, weather permitting.
The peak is expected on the morning of April 22nd, said the chairman of the Sternfreunde association based in southern Hesse Bensheim, Uwe Pilz, the German Press Agency. However, apart from possible cloud cover, there is another downer. “Unfortunately, the almost full moon is disruptive this year,” said Pilz.
According to the star friends, there is still a chance of shooting stars. In the morning between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. the sun is still well below the horizon and the moon is so low that the light is less disturbing. If you want to see the celestial bodies burning up, you have to look high into the southern sky.
The shooting stars will continue to shine until April 25th. The Lyrids appear to come from the constellation Lyra. They are fast objects with speeds of around 50 kilometers per second. Ten to twenty shooting stars, including bright ones, light up every hour. The Lyrids are splintered fragments of Comet Thatcher (C/1861G), through which Earth passes in its orbit in April.