Lyrids 2020: What is the Lyrid meteor shower? How to watch it online?

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks every year towards the end of April, dispersing a handful of bright meteors over the skies. The Lyrids 2020 will peak on the night of Tuesday, April 21, through to the morning of Wednesday, April 22. This year, the Lyrids will show up during the coronavirus lockdown, which means most stargazers won’t get an opportunity to watch the shower outside.

The Lyrid meteor shower is visible every year between mid-April and the month’s end when Earth flies through the dusty tail of Comet Thatcher.

Even though you may spot individual meteors in the approach the event, meteor showers are best observed on the night of their peak.

Stargazers are in for a treat today around evening time as the annual Lyrid meteor shower will be generally exceptional.

The meteor shower peaks every year between mid-April and the month’s end, and is generally active on one night specifically.

The Lyrid meteor shower will produce somewhere in the range of 10 and 20 meteors per hour.

This year, astronomers expect the meteor shower to peak on the night of Tuesday, April 21, through to the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 22.

The meteor shower will be visible all over the nation tonight and the Met Office anticipates favorable weather conditions.

The Lyrid meteor shower shows up because of Earth passing through the tail of Comet Thatcher.

In addition to the Lyrids, stargazers adhered home due to the coronavirus lockdown that will be watching out for SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

What is a meteor shower?

Meteors are small bits and pieces of space rock that collide with our atmosphere at high speeds, abandoning the bright path of ionized gas.

At the point when a considerable lot of these space rocks slam into our atmosphere at once, cosmologists allude to the event like a meteor shower.

The meteors are regularly abandoned in the wake of a disintegrating comet racing around our Sun.

On the off chance that our planet’s orbit intersects the comet’s trajectory, a meteor shower will peak every year at about a similar time.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich in London stated: “A good example is Halley’s Comet which orbits the Sun every 76 years and is the ‘progenitor’ of the Orionids.

“As the Comet gets close to the Sun it heats up, and being a ball of mostly ice it starts to evaporate.

“Rather becoming a liquid, it turns straight into a cloud of particles, just sublimes – a big cloud of debris.”

Comets are continuously filling their orbits with debris, which means it is improbable they will vanish at any time soon.

Meteor showers peak when Earth goes through the densest portion of that debris field.

Sometimes, a purported meteor storm will eject with a great many meteors for one or two hours.

What is the Lyrid meteor shower?

Every year all through April, Earth goes through the dusty debris field of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher.

As the space rock races around the Sun, bits, and pieces of its surface disintegrate off and are abandoned in its orbital path.

At the point when Earth goes through this dusty path, the debris slams into our atmosphere at high velocities.

The debris at that point burns up in the night skies, producing delightful shooting stars.

This year, the Lyrid meteor shower will peak in intensity on the night of Tuesday, April 21, through to the morning of Wednesday, April 22.

How to watch the Lyrid meteor shower tonight?

Great weather conditions should offer stargazers a decent chance to detect a Lyrid meteor tonight.

The Met Office tweeted: “Almost everywhere will have clear skies tonight so there is a good chance you will see the #Starlink Pass and the #LyridMeteorShower”

Nonetheless, with the coronavirus lockdown set up, your viewing options are seriously restricted.

Meteor showers are best found in dark and secluded spots, for example, the countryside or national parks, where there is almost no light pollution.

Huge urban areas like London are typically the last spot you want to be when meteor hunting.

Because of the uncommon conditions, you may still want to attempt to detect a Lyrid meteor shower from home.

To streamline your chances, glance out your window after midnight when the skies are darkest.

The Lyrids meteor shower will seem to radiate or rise out of a point close to the constellation Lyra.

The constellation will show up tonight in the northern skies yet the meteors will shoot out every which way once they show up.

Simply remember the more you hold up until the morning of the peak, the brighter the skies will become.

On the off chance that you have a private garden you can access without violating the lockdown, you should wander outside later tonight.

The Royal Observatory stated: “Lying on the ground is a great way to see as much as possible – blanket optional but highly recommended.

“Reclining deckchairs make an even more comfortable way to view the sky.

“Also, even though summer is rapidly approaching, remember to wrap up warm.”

How to watch the Lyrid meteor shower online

Weather permitting, the delightful Lyrid meteor shower ought to be noticeable to the naked eye the whole way across the UK.

Stargazers expect somewhere in the range of 10 and 20 meteors an hour to fly over the night sky during the peak.

In any case, with an across the nation lockdown set up, your best option will be to stay at home and appreciate the Lyrid meteor shower online.

Courtesy of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, US, you can stream the event in the embedded YouTube player.

The live stream will commence on early on Wednesday, April 22, when the Lyrid meteor shower peaks.

The Lyrid meteor shower will be generally extreme after midnight and in the small morning hours of Wednesday.

The stream is scheduled to begin at 5 am BST on Wednesday, here in the UK.

On the off chance that you are tuning in from the US, the stream will start on Tuesday, April 21, at 9 pm PT.

The Lowell Observatory stated: “Every year in late April, the Earth passes through the debris left by Comet Thatcher, and this creates the Lyrid meteor shower.

“Join Lowell Observatory at 9 pm AZ/PT on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, for a live stream of the Lyrids, hosted by meteor expert, Dr. Nick Moskovitz.

“We’ll use the All-Sky Camera at the Lowell Discovery Telescope to hunt for meteors together.

“After that, you’ll be ready to find more on your own, when the Lyrid meteor shower peaks in the hours before dawn.”

Meteor showers are best observed in rural zones where light pollution doesn’t disturb the night skies.

This time around, the issue isn’t an issue if you watch the Lyrid meteor shower online.

With a bit of luck, you may even have the option to recognize a bright fireball or two.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich in London stated: “Very rarely a meteor will be particularly bright, with those appearing brighter than any of the planets – Venus being typically the brightest – classed as a fireball.”