Stargazers have certain dates circled on their calendar each year.

One of those is right now, and it’s for the Lyrid meteor shower. 

As with any meteor shower, one of the complicating factors is misinformation. You’ll often see misleading estimates about the meteors-per-hour. 

Not trying to be a buzzkill – you’re just not going to see 100 per hour.

That said, Tuesday night is when this shower peaks. You might be able to see some streaking across the sky for the next several days, too. 

In order to get a clearer picture of this year’s shower, we spoke with Tony Rice, an ambassador to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a frequent writer for WRAL.com.

He tells us that the shower peaks around and after 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, 2026.

He suggests looking toward the east under a dark sky. Avoid light pollution as best as possible. 

As for how many you could see? Rice says it’s possible to see about 10 meteors per hour.

If you happen to get any pictures or videos of a shooting star during the Lyrids, you can send that our way to ReportIt.