William Atkins
Tuesday, 21 April 2009 18:46
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
The Lyrid meteor shower, brought to you by Comet Thatcher, is coming to everyone’s early dawn sky on and around Wednesday, April 22, 2009. Its unpredictable nature could produce a few meteors per hour or many, many more. Look at it to find out what happens.
All over the world, the Lyrids are expected to peak on Wednesday, April 22nd with a display of 10 to 20 meteors per hour in the Northern Hemisphere.
As Earth travels through the fuzzy tail of Comet Thatcher, you’ll also see the tiny pieces of the comet’s tail strike the upper atmosphere of Earth on the days following April 22.
You should be able to see the shower through to April 26.
The ten to twenty meteor-per-hour amount, however, is only an estimate because Comet Thatcher has not been analyzed very well.
For instance, in 1982, people on Earth saw five times as many meteors per hour than usual—around 90 meteors per hour. For brief periods of time around 180 to 300 meteors may be seen for a few minutes.
Some of the brightest of the meteors are called “Lyrid fireballs,” which could produce shadows and debris trails that appear smoky for a few minutes.
In fact, Alistair McBeath and Rainer Arlt (International Meteor Organization) state, "
This unpredictability always makes the Lyrids a shower to watch, since we cannot say when the next unusual return may occur.” [Sky and Telescope: “
April's Lyrid Meteor Shower”]
Page two talks about when and where the meteor shower will appear in the early morning sky.
