The Lyrid meteor shower will reach its peak at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time on April 22, but skywatchers will have their best chance to catch it during the late evening of April 21 through dawn the next day. The long-running display is one of the oldest known meteor showers, watched by humans for at least 2,700 years.
Under a waxing crescent moon, the show should be easier to see after midnight in the contiguous United States, when the moon will set within roughly a couple of hours. The Lyrids typically deliver 10 to 20 meteors an hour at their best, with streaks racing at about 29 miles per second, fast enough to leave brief bright flashes across the sky.
For one observer, the appeal is in the timing. Maria Valdes said people only get to see the comet itself once every 415 years, but they pass through the grains it leaves behind every year around the same time. That is what makes the shower repeat on the calendar, even though the parent comet, C/1861 G1 Thatcher, will not return until 2278.
The Lyrids take their name from Lyra, the constellation where the meteors appear to radiate. Their first recorded sighting was made by the Chinese in 687 B.C.E., making them one of the earliest documented meteor showers. The debris that creates the display trails behind comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, discovered by A. E. Thatcher in 1861, and the shower usually produces good rates for three nights centered on the maximum.
That consistency is what sets the Lyrids apart from a bigger but less predictable event. Bill Cooke said the Leonids hit Earth head-on, while the Lyrids are more like striking the left front fender, a glancing encounter that still can surprise observers. In an outburst, some people have reported as many as 100 meteors an hour, far above the usual pace.
The best way to watch is simple: get away from light pollution and find a place with a clear view of the sky. On a night built around a shower that has kept watch over human history for millennia, the real answer to whether it is worth staying up is yes — especially after midnight, when the moon drops out and the sky should be darker.