THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER ACTIVE RIGHT NOW AND PEAKING ON APRIL 22ND!!! – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER!!! 💖🌒🌠☄️✨
A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER
- Parent Body: Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher
- Radiant Constellation: Lyra / Hercules
- Shower activity between: 14th of April – 30th of April
- Peak activity: 22nd April
- Peak meteor count: on average up to 20 meteors per hour in perfect conditions!
- Best time/date to observe: late night on the 22nd and early morning of the 23rd April
After a long meteor drought, we are finally about to be treated to another amazing meteor shower. The annual Lyrid meteor shower returns to our evening skies in April, marking one of the first major meteor showers of 2025. Whilst not being the most intense of meteor showers, the Lyrids on average produce up to 20 meteors an hour and are known for fast, bright meteors.
There is also another stronger meteor shower that will overlap the Lyrids and be active from the 19th of April named the eta Aquarids. This means there will be two showers active at the same time increasing our chances of viewing meteors. We will make a post about the Aquarids closer to their peak date.
UNFORTUNATELY, this year’s peak night of the Lyrid meteor shower may not be the best for observing as during the peak the 36% illuminated waxing crescent Moon will be in the skies for most of the night. This means the Moon will be creating some natural light pollution, making it hard to see fainter meteors in the moonlit skies.
HOWEVER, with the Eta Aquarid meteor shower overlapping with the Lyrids, combined with the radiant being well placed and the Moon only being 36% illuminated, you will still be likely to see a fair amount of meteors when not looking near the Moon.
We have already seen lots of great meteors throughout April in the run up to the peak and you may have seen on the news that many people witnessed an incredibly bright bolide meteor (an exploding meteor!) last weekend. So fingers crossed, we will get to see some more amazing meteors as we head into the Lyrid shower.
All in all, it’s a great time to spot meteors and well worth spending an hour or two out star gazing on these beautiful and much warmer Spring nights.
If you would like more detailed information on the Lyrid meteor shower and meteors in general, including what meteors are, where they come from, what you need to know about to maximise your chances of viewing meteors, plus our personal recommendations and tips for when and where to look, please read on…
THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER
The Lyrid Meteor Shower is so named because the radiant point from which its meteors appear to radiate from is located nearby to the constellation of Lyra. Technically speaking, the radiant for this meteor shower is actually located within the boundaries of the constellation of Hercules during most of its active period but travels into Lyra for its last few days of activity.
The annual Lyrid meteor shower is always a welcome sight after four months without a major meteor shower and generally produces fast and bright meteors. Although the Lyrids tend to not be as fast or plentiful as other famous showers, they can be surprisingly heavy showers with as many as 100 meteors per hour in an outburst year (a year with particularly intense showers). Sightings of some of these outburst showers occurred in 1803 – Virginia, 1922 – Greece, 1945 – Japan and 1982 – USA.
On an average year, the Lyrid meteor shower usually produces up to around 20 meteors an hour during their peak under clear, dark skies. Light pollution and other factors however, mean that the number of visible meteors may be far less.
An interesting fact about the Lyrid meteor shower is that it is one of the oldest known meteor showers. Records of this shower go back for some 2,700 years. The oldest recorded sighting of a Lyrid meteor shower goes back to 687 BC when the ancient Chinese observed the Lyrid meteors “falling like rain”.
Lyrid meteors tend not to leave long persistent trains behind them, but can occasionally produce super bright meteors known as “fireballs”, which are exceptionally bright meteors that can shine brighter than the super bright planet Venus!
Lyrid meteors are typically travelling at a velocity of 29 miles per second and they enter the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of roughly 104,400 miles per hour! Wow! 🙀☄️
WHERE DO METEORS COME FROM? / PARENT BODY – COMET C/1861 G1 THATCHER
Most meteor showers are caused by comet debris that crosses Earth’s orbit, some showers are caused by asteroid debris.
The meteors from the Lyrid meteor shower are thought to be produced by dust grains and debris left behind by a comet known as Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which was discovered in 1861 by astronomer AE Thatcher.
The comet has an orbital period of 422 years (orbiting the Sun every 422 years) and will not return to the inner solar system until the year 2283.
WHAT CAUSES THE LIGHT FROM METEORS?
As a comet or asteroid travels through space, it leaves a trail of dust and debris behind it. When Earth intersects these trails, we slam into the dust and debris in their wake. The debris then enters the Earth’s atmosphere at incredibly high speed, generating immense amounts of frictional energy that is released in the form of intense heat and light. Meteors tend to vary from the size of a sand grain to about as big as a pea. The bigger the piece of debris, the bigger and brighter the meteor.
When a meteoroid particle strikes the upper atmosphere at high speed, it heats up to around 1,650°C and starts to glow. The meteoroid also compresses and heats the air in front of it, exciting atoms like oxygen which in turn radiate light. Together, the two processes produce the bright, needle-like flashes known as meteors or "shooting stars."
Occasionally, a meteoroid may be large enough to survive its fiery journey through our atmosphere, landing somewhere on Earth. When a meteoroid manages to land on our planet, it becomes known as a meteorite.
METEOR COLOURS ❤️💙💜🧡💛☄️
When meteoroids burn up in our atmosphere, they can sometimes create beautifully colourful trails behind them. The colours that meteors display are partly caused by the presence of traces of elements such as sodium, iron and calcium, the same elements that are used to make fireworks colourful.
These elements become ionised as they travel through Earth’s atmosphere and emit a beautiful range of different coloured meteor trails as their particles burn up in the atmosphere. The colours that are emitted depend on the elements being excited.
Here are the colours associated with different elements found in meteors: 👇
🟠 Orange-yellow — sodium;
🟡 Yellow — iron;
🔵 Blue-green — magnesium;
🟣 Violet — calcium;
🔴 Red — atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen.
The speed at which the meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere can also affect the colour. The faster a meteor moves, the more intense it’s colour may appear.
FIREBALL METEORS
On rare occasions, when a meteoroid is large enough, it is possible to view extremely bright meteors which are known as “Fireballs”. A meteor is called a fireball when it reaches a magnitude (brightness) equal to or brighter than that of the planet Venus. Venus is about -4 in magnitude, a meteor must be brighter than this to be known as a fireball. These fireballs are so bright that they can easily be seen in heavily light-polluted areas such as cities.
On very rare occasions, it is possible to view meteors that explode and separate into several pieces in the sky. We have been treated to sights of a couple of these at the public stargazing events that we run. These explosive meteors are known as “bolides” and can outshine the bright full moon. They are an incredible sight to witness.
WHAT FACTORS TO CONSIDER TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE METEORS
In order to maximise your chances of viewing meteors from a meteor shower it helps to consider a few things.
The main thing you need to consider when looking for meteors from a meteor shower is the date/s when the Earth travels it’s furthest into the trail of debris left by the parent comet or asteroid. Around this period of time there will be a higher number of meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere, this is the peak of the meteor shower.
The next most important thing to consider for many showers is the time that the radiant for the meteor shower will be high in the sky. The higher the radiant is in your visible sky, the higher your chances of viewing meteors will be. However, sometimes the radiant for a shower may not be at its highest point in the sky when the skies are dark.
You must also take the brightness of the skies into account along with the radiant’s location in order to maximise your chances of viewing meteors.
There are also other factors such as the Earth weather, the conditions of your viewing location and the Moon’s position and phase that will affect how easy it is to view meteors and need to be considered.
WHEN IS THE PEAK / THE BEST NIGHT TO WATCH?
The exact time of peak activity for the Lyrids (when the Earth travels furthest into the trail of comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher) will be in the evening of the 22nd of April at around 20:48 BST.
Although this will be when Earth travels furthest into the material that causes this meteor shower, the radiant for the shower will be fairly low in the sky at this time, and the skies will still be quite bright and so it will be better to wait until later to start observing.
There are other factors to take into account (please see below) that will affect the amount of visible meteors, which means that the best time for viewing this year’s Lyrids will be late night on the 22nd into the morning of the 23rd of April.
WHERE TO LOOK / THE RADIANT
To help you know where is best to look for meteors it helps to understand a little about meteor shower radiants.
Meteors from a specific meteor shower will appear to originate from a particular area of the sky which is known as the “radiant”.
Technically speaking, the radiant for the Lyrid meteor shower can be found within the boundaries of the constellation Hercules and towards the end of the showers active period, the radiant wanders into the constellation of Lyra.
The constellations of Hercules and Lyra can be found between the constellations of Bootes and Cygnus.
More specifically, the exact location for the radiant can be found in between the bright star Vego of Lyra and the constellation of Hercules.
You don’t really need to know exactly where the meteors radiate from because meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. However, knowing where the radiant is may help you increase your chances of viewing meteors if you follow this top tip:
Top Tip! - If you can locate the radiant, try looking at a dark part of the sky around 45 degrees away from the radiant to maximise your chances of viewing meteors. This area of the sky tends to be the easiest area to spot meteors. Meteors seen closer to the radiant will appear shorter / leave shorter trails compared to others further away from the radiant.
Cool Fact! - You can tell if a meteor belongs to a specific shower by tracing a line backwards from the direction it appeared to travel in across the sky. If this line leads you close to a meteor shower’s radiant location, you can safely bet that meteor belonged to that specific meteor shower.
WHAT TIME TO LOOK / RADIANT CONTINUED
Although it can help knowing the exact location of the radiant, the main thing you need to know about a meteor shower radiant is that it has risen above the horizon. Once the radiant has risen in the sky there will be a higher chance of seeing meteors, and the higher the radiant has risen, the more meteors will be visible.
With many meteor showers (the Moon aside) the best time to head out and watch meteor showers is usually on the peak night between midnight and dawn, when the radiant is (usually) high in the sky and the skies are darkest. Don’t worry if you can’t head out this late, there should still be plenty of meteors about earlier in the night.
During the peak night on the 22nd of April, the radiant for the Lyrid meteor shower will rise above the Northern horizon at roughly 18:06 BST whilst the skies are still bright. As the night progresses, the radiant will continue to rise higher in the sky travelling towards the East and then South where it will reach its highest point in the sky at roughly 05:02 BST. However the skies will be bright at this time and so the early morning hours of the 23rd of April will be best radiant-height-wise.
If you head out early in the night, you might also be treated to something known as an “Earth grazer” meteor (long, slow, colourful meteors that skim across the edge of our atmosphere).
WHERE TO VIEW FROM / VIEWING LOCATION
The location that you do your stargazing from can make a big difference to the number of stars and in this case shooting stars that are possible to see in the night sky. The less light there is around your viewing location, the more your eyes will be able to adapt to the darkness, the darker the skies will be and the more of the fainter meteors from a shower will be visible.
Ideally for meteor showers and generally enjoying the night sky, you want to find a safe dark location, with clear views of most of the sky, and as far away from sources of light such as street lights as possible.
Although the waxing crescent Moon will affect meteor visibility on the peak night for this year’s Lyrids, it will still help not having any bright lights in your line of sight.
DARK ADAPTATION / NIGHT VISION
When out meteor watching, in order to view as many meteors as possible it can help to allow your eyes become adapted to seeing faint objects in the sky.
Try not to look at sources of light such as your mobile phone or the Moon for around 15 minutes or so, this will allow your eyes become dark adapted. After around 15-30 minutes of letting your eyes adapt to the dark, the pupils of your eyes will dilate to their maximum aperture and the receptors in your eyes that are responsible for low light vision will become fully activated. This will allow your eyes to gather more light and more fainter night sky objects will be easier to see.
If you need to use a torch to light your way, we recommend using a torch that emits only red light. Red light has much less of an effect on your night vision compared to white light.
If you want to use your phone, use it on its lowest brightness and you can always cover the screen with a red film to minimise its effect on your night vision. Star map/planetarium apps such as Stellarium often have a night mode that displays only in red light which can also help you keep your night vision.
Another tip to help you see more on nights with a bright moon or a light nearby to your viewing location is to keep the moon or source of light out of sight. Try to keep the Moon or light to your back or if you have a large tree or building nearby to your location, try blocking the moon or any sources of light from your line of sight with the tree/building. This can help stop a bright moon or lights from ruining your dark adapted night vision.
THE MOON / DARK SKIES
Sometimes the glow of the Moon can interfere with a meteor shower and spoil meteor shower views by lighting up the night sky and washing out the fainter meteors. When the Moon is bright it leaves only the brightest of meteors visible.
Unfortunately for this year’s peak night of the Lyrid meteor shower, the Moon will be 36% and around all night. This means that the skies will be brighter than usual (particularly nearby to the Moon) and fainter meteors may be hard to observe. However, with the Lyrids overlapping with the Eta Aquarids and the radiant being high means there is still a great chance of seeing meteors.
ASTRO DOGS RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW BEST TO SEE THE LYRIDS
Following the advice above will help you maximise your chances of seeing meteors. But if you want our personal recommendations for this year’s Lyrids:
- Considering the timing of the peak, the radiants location, and the Moon conditions, the best time/date to observe the Lyrids will probably be the early morning of the 23rd of April between midnight and dawn as the radiant rises higher and the Moon descends closer to the horizon.
- However, don’t worry if you can’t stay out this late there should still be lots of meteors around earlier in the night.
- Keep your back to the Moon, this will stop the Moon affecting and you will be looking more towards the “hot-spots” for meteors (see below).
- Meteors can be seen anywhere in the sky, but you are more likely to see meteors around 45 degrees away from the radiant which is located in the constellation of Hercules.
- Following the above tip, if you are able to find the asterism known as the Plough/Big Dipper, the North star Polaris or the bright star Arcturus, these locations in the sky may be a good locations to focus on.
We hope that these tips will help you catch some shooting stars! 😊
OTHER CELESTIAL TREATS TO LOOK OUT FOR
Although the waxing crescent Moon will not be helping our chances of viewing meteors, the Moon will be taking part in a special celestial meeting on the same night of the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower. On the night of the 22nd into the morning of the 23rd of April the Moon will appear close by to the bright planet Jupiter.
Look for the Moon and next to it you will find a super bright star like point of light, this is the planet Jupiter. If you take a closer look at Jupiter with a pair of binoculars or a telescope you may also be able to spot Jupiter’s Galilean moons!
This celestial gathering will make for a beautiful sight in our night skies and so when you are not focused on viewing meteors, we recommend soaking in this special sight.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE NIGHT SKY THROUGHOUT APRIL?
If you would like to know more about the rest of the celestial treats that can be seen in the skies throughout this month, please head to our YouTube channel to watch our Night Sky Guide video for April 2026.
GENERAL STARGAZING/METEOR SHOWER TIPS
• You don’t need a telescope or any special equipment to view meteors, just your eyes and a bit of patience.
• If you do own binoculars or a telescope, you may want to take a closer look at some of the amazing celestial treats that are currently visible in our night skies. Jupiter with its great weather bands and great red spot, the Pleiades with its faint nebulous glow, the radiant globular cluster in Hercules, and the amazing Andromeda galaxy all are spectacular to view with binoculars or a telescope.
• Find a safe, dark location with clear unobstructed views and with no lights in sight. Even with the Moon in the sky, the less light around you, the more meteors you will see. However, don’t worry too much if you can’t get somewhere dark, you should still see the brighter meteors.
• Allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness and you will see more meteors. Our eyes require time to adjust to low levels of light. Try not to look at bright lights (such as a phone) for around 15-30 minutes and this will allow you to see many more meteors. If you do require to use a torch, use one which emits red light as this interferes with your night vision much less than white light.
• Be mindful of other stargazers when using a torch, you don’t want to ruin other people’s meteor shower experience!
• You don’t need to know where the radiant for a meteor shower is to be able to view meteors but if you do, it can help. Once you’ve located the radiant in the sky, looking halfway between the horizon and the zenith (directly upwards), and 45 degrees from the radiant will improve your chances of viewing meteors (however, pay attention to the whole sky as they can appear anywhere). The closer to the radiant you look, the shorter the meteors will appear. The further away from the radiant you look, the longer they will appear.
• You can tell if a meteor belongs to a specific shower by tracing a line backwards from the direction it appeared to travel in across the sky. If this line leads you to the radiant’s location, you can tell that meteor belonged to that specific meteor shower.
• You might want to take a blanket to lay on or a chair to recline in, so your neck doesn’t get strained whilst looking up.
• If you head out, wrap up well! It can get quite chilly on a night, and if you are not prepared, you may end up being too cold to stay out and see any meteors. Bring a blanket to cover yourself in and a flask with a warm drink for extra comfort. ❄️🧤🧣
• You may wish to gather some of your friends and family to share this magical occasion too. You could always host a meteor watching party with music and drinks (but no bright lights!).
GOOD LUCK AND CLEAR SKIES
The peak of the Lytids is always a welcome sight in our skies, and even with the Moon out, we are very much looking forward to this year’s Lyrids.
We can’t wait to see if we witness some amazing fireballs and we hope you all get to see some too!
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