How to watch the show

The meteor season returned with the annual Lyrid meteor shower. The first three months of most years are relatively dry weather for night sky spectators, as not much happens usually between Rain of quadrantid meteorites in early January and Lyrids. Lyrids indicate a welcome return of the chance to venture into the evening amid mild temperatures and have become officially active this week.

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The meteor shower in Lyrid in 2012, captured by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station. GODMOTHER

But this is just the beginning. Lyrids rise to a peak on the evening of April 21 until the morning of April 22. If you can’t go out that night or the weather doesn’t cooperate where you are, a night before or after the peak is also expected to present a pretty good viewing opportunity.

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Lyrids do not produce a lot of meteors, maybe 10 to 15 per hour, but are more likely to include bright and dramatic fireballs than other major showers. Every few decades we get an explosion during Lyrids that increases the rate to about 100 per hour. This is not expected to happen in 2021, but such things are also notoriously difficult to predict.

The source of the Lyrids is the cloud of debris left behind by a comet called C / 1861 G1 Thatcher that was last seen in the 19th century and will not pass through the inner solar system for more than two centuries. However, every year, our planet goes through the cloud of dust that it left behind on previous visits. Small space pebbles and other pieces of dust and debris collide with our atmosphere and burn far above us, producing those passing bright spectacles, so many are willing to stay awake late or wake up early to catch.

The meteor shower in Lyrid in 2012, captured by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.

This year, with a month that will be more than two-thirds full at the top of the Lyrids, it’s probably best to try to see the show before dawn and after the moon has set at your location.

The Perseid meteor shower of 2020 peaked on the evening of August 11 on the morning of August 12, but will be active until August 24 and continues to send astrophotographs at night to see what they can capture, often with remarkable results. This lively shot was captured from Quebec. A lone Perseid plays in parallel with the vibrant Milky Way.

Canadian photographer Dave Bremner captured this moody image of at least three meteors, the Milky Way, a low-flying plane and a communications tower.

This image is a composite of two photographs by photographer Bill Dennis from a time lapse sequence over Bedforshire, UK, which captured a bright Perseid.

Photographer Jon Bretan caught a meteorite in a strange glow.

Steve Brown took this magnificent time-lapse of star trails during the Perseid meteor shower.

Photographer Harry Taylor created this composite from several images of Perseid meteorites in North Cave Creek, AZ.

British photographer Tom Lee captured over 1,000 images in one night, watching a great Perseid photo. This proved to be the best.

Peter Humphreys, a Cambridge-based photographer in the UK, captured this twilight image of several meteors. If you look hard enough, you might also find some SpaceX Starlink satellite tracks, a new feature in many Perseid photos this year.

Eliot Herman captured this shot of a perseid at dawn crashing behind his feet near Tucson, Arizona.

Virginia photographer Jason Betzner was lucky enough to catch what looks like a bright Perseid fireball on the night of the shower.

This image from Latvia shows some Perseids, the Milky Way, Jupiter and Saturn all in the frame.

This Perseid fireball was seen over a lake in Ontario around dusk. “It was hot and muddy even after sunset, with a lot of fog on the horizon, but this Perseid was so bright it didn’t matter,” said photographer Malcolm Park.

The meteor shower season brings famous time-lapse photos of streaked meteor trails. The one in Michigan is about as trippy as they were, caught in a two-hour period above Lake Huron. “Mars is at the bottom right, with reflections on Lake Huron,” explains photographer Samer Hariri. “A red moon rises on the horizon of the lake. There is a dirty Milky Way, the Capella rises with its reflection in the lake, the cars heading south and the lights in the Canadian cities of things.”

Another Perseid crosses the Milky Way, this time seen by photographer Sheldon Emberly. If you have a photo of Perseid that you are especially proud of, please share it with me on Twitter @EricCMack.

14/14 SLIDES

But that doesn’t mean that evening viewing will necessarily be fruitless. The hours after dusk can provide a good chance to capture a bright “pasture of land” along the horizon.

Whenever you go out to look for Lyrids, get as far away from light pollution as possible and find a place like an open field or a hilltop with a wide, unobstructed view of the night sky. Go to bed, let your eyes adjust, relax and watch.

It is not necessary to look at a particular part of the sky, but the Lyrids will appear to emanate outward from their constellation of the same name Lyra, traveling away from that part of the sky like spokes on a wheel. So if you can find Lyra and focus on her, it’s great, but not absolutely necessary.

Stay warm, stay safe and enjoy the space show! If amateur astrophotographers happen to catch lyre fireballs, please share them with me Twitter @EricCMack.

Follow CNET’s 2021 space calendar to keep up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.

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