Sunday 20 April 2014

                              Lyrid meteor shower the famous and the oldest meteor shower. Proof of having been observed this meteor shower dates back to 600 BC.
                           
                               Lyrid meteor shower is caused because of comet Thatcher(named after A.E Thatcher who discovered it), this comet has an orbit period of about 415 years it passed through earth on 1861 and next time it will at 2276. so when this comet passed through it left a dusty tail and thus every year earth passes through it.
                             
At its peak 20-30 meteors/hour can be spotted but there has been some exception like in 1922 and 1982 when these were at unexpectedly higher rate i.e up to 90-100 and these high rates cannot be expected and just comes at random and if we are lucky enough we may see a lyrid fire ball(a big rock crashing to earth's atmosphere and leaving a long tail).


The best time to watch lyrids meteor shower will be between 1-3 AM, so just go out let your eye adopt to the night sky, wait for 15-20 minutes and there you go!!!!!!!!!!

Where to look for it??????

Well it can randomly from anywhere but still the best strategy would be to look east, North east(as most of these can be seen at near constellation lyra, from which it got its name lyrid).
This shower usually peaks every year on April 22 or 23. So these dates would be the best to go on roof and hunt for them.


Lyrid meteor shower as seen from International Space Station(ISS).





Happy Hunting guys!!!!!!!!Feel free to comment or write us at amteurastronomyclub@gmail.com

2 comments:

  1. I've always wanted to see a meteor shower. Just need to stay up late enough and go outside!

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    1. Yes erik up to 3 or 4 o'clock and they all are pretty interesting aren't they.

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