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Trails of stars captured during the Perseid meteor shower, August 12, 2014 (Credit: Paul Tashlykov)
DENVER – Lyrid's annual meteor shower will peak on Tuesday morning, but keep an eye on the sky over the weekend.
There has been no meteorites to light the sky since early January, and it will be visible worldwide.
The moon was full on Friday, so it will still be clear enough early in the morning during the weekend and during peak hours. In the late evening, depending on your geographical position, between 9pm and 9pm. and at midnight local time, may be the best time to see "shooting stars" or meteors burning in our atmosphere.
It will also be the best time to see slower, longer meteors dragging horizontally into the sky, called Earthgrazers. Some of them have trails that glow for a few seconds after the disappearance of the meteor.
In general, Lyrid's meteor shower can show between 10 and 20 meteors per hour during peak hours, but it's hard to estimate how many people will be visible.
The rain occurs every year at this time when the orbit of the Earth crosses that of comet Thatcher. The comet loses pieces of itself that fly into our upper atmosphere at 110,000 miles at the hour.
Lyrid gets its name from the Lyra constellation. The Lyrid Rain is one of the oldest known, with visible meteor records dating back 2700 years, according to EarthSky.
If you live in an urban area, you can drive to a place that is not congested by city lights and that will hinder your view.
Find an open space with a wide view of the sky. Make sure you have a chair or blanket so you can look straight up. And give your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to adapt to the dark – without looking at your phone – so that the meteors are easier to spot.
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