The peak of pollen season brings to the sky something less painful\u2014the Lyrids, or the first wave of shooting stars in spring. These meteorites will peak later today and stay visible until April 26. Don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n
According to the American Meteor Society<\/a> (AMS), the Lyrids are particles shed by the comet C\/186 G1 Thatcher. Since 1861, the Lyrids have streaked across the sky in springtime, with small fluctuations in volume every 12-to-20-year period. This year will be one of the less active periods, with around six meteors per hour at the shower peak just this morning, explained Thaddeus LaCoursiere, planetarium program coordinator at the Bell Museum in Minnesota, to AP News<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the meteor shower will continue to be visible until April 26, so keep your eyes peeled. To check out the best viewing conditions for your area, timeanddate.com<\/a> has this tool<\/a> for you to customize.<\/p>\n Tips from experts <\/p>\n The most ideal conditions for catching meteors are when the skies are dark. This year, the Moon will be at its waxing crescent phase during the Lyrids. So the viewing conditions won\u2019t be perfect, but you should still have a fair chance at around 4 to 5 a.m. local daylight time, AMS explained. For viewers \u201climited to more civilized hours,\u201d start around 10 p.m., the organization added.<\/p>\n Also, be patient.<\/p>\n \u201cYou might not be able to see anything for the first 10 minutes while your eyes adjust to the dark,\u201d Ashley King, a planetary scientist with the National History Museum in the U.K., explained in a blog post<\/a>. \u201cOnce you get used to the low light levels, you\u2019ll begin to notice more and more. So don\u2019t give up too quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Some background info <\/p>\n If you\u2019re just here for the science, don\u2019t worry! We got you covered. Meteor showers are often called shooting stars, but these streaks of light aren\u2019t actually stars. Meteoroids are particulate streams of debris left behind by comets and asteroids; they\u2019re tiny but travel at blinding speeds through space.<\/p>\n When these particles interact with charged particles in Earth\u2019s atmosphere, they become \u201cheated up by the friction and form the impressive flash that we see,\u201d King explained. \u201cThe Earth isn\u2019t close to the comet or asteroid\u2014it\u2019s just passing through some of the dust it left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cpeak\u201d of a meteor shower, therefore, refers to when Earth passes through the thickest section of the debris stream from a comet. On the other hand, more feisty-looking \u201cLyrid fireballs\u201d are actually marble-sized meteoroids that pass through Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n