Lyrid meteor shower to light up our skies

Peaking next week over two days, tomorrow and Wednesday, stargazers will be able to witness a shooting star flash across the sky every four to six minutes, continuing until 29 April.

Retired oceanographer and member of La Societe Guernesiaise Astronomy section Dr Jean Dean predicts a maximum rate of 18 meteors per hour.

Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids,’ she said.

‘When comets get close to the sun during their orbit some of the icy material melts and leaves a dusty trail behind.

‘Every year Earth passes through these debris trails and the fragments collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create showers of fiery and colourful streaks in the night sky. The Lyrids are typically bright fast meteors, travelling at about 30 miles per second and will be easy to spot as there will be no moon so the sky will be nice and dark.’

In terms of tips for islanders to catch a glimpse of the meteors from their gardens, Dr Dean advised people to turn off any house lights to keep the area as dark as possible and after 10-20 minutes their eyesight will adjust to the dark and more of the night sky will be seen.

‘To see the meteors, look towards the northeast just above the horizon from about 8.30pm onwards,’ she added.

‘They will seem to radiate from the constellation Lyra the harp – hence the name Lyrids – close to the bright star Vega and will rise in altitude as the evening progresses reaching maximum altitude at dawn.’

Unless it is cloudy, this year the Lyrids occur during the New Moon so views of the meteors will not be impeded.

The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, first recorded 2,700 years ago by the Chinese, and belong to Comet Thatcher, discovered in 1861 by A. E. Thatcher and is known to take 415.5 years to complete one orbit around the sun. Comet Thatcher last visited the inner solar system in 1861.