Lyrid 2019 meteor shower: When to see the best shooting stars in April

April is not known as an important month for meteor showers, but that did not stop a giant fireball from shooting into the night sky earlier this week, dazzling witnesses on the east coast and the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Although this meteor is not suspected of being linked to the Lyrid meteor shower – it was probably a piece of rock from an asteroid – the Lyrids are starting to activate this week and will soon reach their climax.

The Lyrid meteor shower takes place every year in April. It begins around April 16 and culminates about a week later. This year, the shower should reach its maximum around Monday, April 22. If you want to see shooting stars, watch the sky late Sunday night, early Monday morning or after midnight.

EarthSky.org's astronomy experts say they expect the Lyrid meteor shower to be the most active from Monday night through Tuesday morning, but it's hard to predict how many meteors per hour will be visible.

In dark rural areas, under a moonless sky, starwatters can typically see about 10 to 20 meteors per hour spinning across the sky when the meteor shower of Lyrid peaks. This number is reduced to a handful of meteors every hour in urban areas and other places filled with street lights and other bright lights.

"Pink moon" to limit viewing

In 2019, the almost-full moon of April, known as the "pink moon", will only make things worse for sky watchers: it will shine brightly this weekend after reaching its phase the most complete on Friday, April 19th.

Moonlight will limit our ability to see Lyrid meteors as they cross the sky, notes astronomer Kevin D. Conod of New Jersey, director of the Newark Museum's Dreyfuss Planetarium.

Conod said the ideal time to search for meteors would be in the hours leading up to the dawn of Monday, April 22. "With light pollution in the moonlight, expect to see only two to seven meteors per hour," he said in an astronomy column. on jerseysbest.com.

Where do the Lyrid meteors come from?

The Lyrid meteor shower is one of the oldest ever recorded, and these meteors tend to be fast and brilliant, according to NASA.

The shooting stars of the Lyrid are actually small dust particles that form the tail of an old comet called Comet Thatcher. His namesake is a New York amateur astronomer, A. E. Thatcher, who discovered the comet in 1861.

"When comets arrive in the sun, the dust they emit spreads progressively in a dusty path around their orbits," NASA notes. "Each year the Earth crosses these tracks with debris, allowing particles to collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to create fire trails and bright colors in the sky."

What is the best meteor shower in 2019?

The best meteor shower to look for this year is the one that is the most active every year: Perseid meteorite rain in July and August.

The Perseids are generally active from July 17 to August 24 and reach their peak on August 12 or 13, according to the American Meteor Society. This year, they will be at their best in the night of August 12 in the early morning hours of August 13, but the moon will be 94% full, which will reduce the number of visible meteors.

Some other good meteor showers to look for this year:

• the Orionidswhich will culminate on the night of 21 October.
• the Leonidswhich will culminate on the night of November 16th.
• the Geminids, which will culminate on the night of December 13th.

Unfortunately, the moon will emit a lot of light when each of these meteor showers will be the most active, according to Sky & Telescope.

US weather forecast for meteor observation

Here are the first weather forecasts for Lyrid meteor shower observation Sunday evening and Monday morning, as well as Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Len Melisurgo can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com sure Facebook.