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Every April, Lyrid shooting stars flash across the night sky. But in 2024 you’ll need a bit of luck to see meteors.
Frankfurt – In April you can see the first stream of shooting stars in several months: the Lyrids. The Shooting stars seem to emanate from the constellation Lyra (Latin: Lyra) – a fact to which they owe their name. The Lyrid meteor shower has been known for a long time; the first record dates back to 687 BC China.
It hasn’t been known for quite that long what causes the shooting stars in April: that comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), which is on its way around the Sun left a trail of dust in space. Every time the Earth flies through this dust trail in April, it rains shooting stars.
| Lyrids |
| Constellation Lyra (Latin Lyra) |
| Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) |
| 14th-30th April 2024 |
| April 22, 2024 around 9 a.m. (CEST) |
| 18 per hour |
| Source: International Meteor Organization |
Lyrid Falling Star Stream: Meteors rain in April
The shooting stars in the astronomy Also called meteors, they occur when a grain of dust hits the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up. This causes air particles in the atmosphere to glow – the shooting star rushes across the sky. Experts estimate that several hundred or even thousands of tons of meteor dust fall to Earth every day. Most of these shooting stars cannot be seen with the naked eye – partly because they fall during the day or because they shine over uninhabited areas.
The Lyrids are active in April every year and can be observed from April 14th to 30th. In 2024 they will reach their maximum on April 22nd around 9 a.m. with around 18 shooting stars per hour. Since it is already light at this time and the maximum is very sharp, this cannot be observed in the German-speaking area in 2024. The closest you can get to the maximum is to lie in wait before sunrise on the morning of April 22nd – but then it will be bright and almost full moon in the sky and disturbs observation with its light. It’s April 24th Full moon.
Adverse circumstances for the Lyrid shooting stars in 2024
If you want to observe the shooting stars of the Lyrids despite the adverse conditions in 2024, you should look for the constellation Lyra, the so-called radiant of the meteors. The lyre rises in the evening after sunset in the northeast and rises high into the sky during the night. The best time to observe shooting stars is in the early morning hours when the constellation is as high as possible.
In some years a real outbreak was reported by the Lyrids. For example, in 1982, 1922 and 1945, around a hundred shooting stars per hour were counted; from 1803, a meteor shower with up to 1000 shooting stars per hour is recorded. Nothing like that is expected for 2024 – but even a single shooting star can be an experience that you won’t quickly forget. There are also numerous other exciting things that you can do look at the starry sky in April can. (tab)