Lyrids Meteor Shower 2021. A meteor shower will light up the sky this week

It’s been a few months since we had our last meteor shower, but the night sky is about to light up once again—with starry streaks brightening the night.This annual Lyrid meteor shower  begins on April 16, and it’ll peak this week  April 22-23.

The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, having been observed 2,700 years ago in historical Chinese texts. According to the American Meteor Society, the Lyrids “usually lack persistent trains but can produce fireballs”—with NASA confirming they can often be seen for many seconds at a time.

Best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere, to see the Lyrids head out to a dark area and look towards the Lyra constellation which rises in the east.For help finding the constellation, you may want to check out this interactive sky map that’s being updating daily through the Lyrids.

If you have clear skies, lucky you: you can expect to see very bright meteors at a forecast rate of up to 18 per hour.If you do miss April’s meteor shower? Not to worry. Tis the season, and the Eta Aquarids meteor shower is going to peak on May 4.