The Lyrid Meteor Shower: An April Event Beyond the 2014 Livestream

The Lyrids return to the April sky as Earth encounters debris associated with Comet Thatcher. They are meteors in our atmosphere, not stars falling out of the sky.

An annual event needs a year-specific viewing plan

This page originally announced a livestream and peak timing for April 2014. Those appointments have expired. Moonlight, cloud and the timing of the peak change the practical viewing conditions from one year to another.

Keep expectations attached to conditions

A published hourly rate is not a guarantee for every observer. A wide, dark view of the sky is more useful for watching meteors than concentrating on a narrow telescope field. The cover’s long trails also illustrate photographic time exposure, rather than the appearance of every individual meteor.

Further information: NASA’s Lyrid meteor-shower overview

Explore more: Thomas O’Brien’s multi-year meteor compilation; what bright cities hide in the night sky.

Video: Stunning View of Lyrids and Earth at Night (published by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center).

Why the meteors appear to share a direction

The name Lyrids comes from their apparent radiant in the direction of the constellation Lyra. The particles are not falling from that constellation: Earth is encountering material associated with Comet Thatcher. A meteor is the luminous event produced as material enters the atmosphere, while the distant stars provide the background against which the streak is seen. This distinction makes the familiar phrase shooting star easier to interpret.

An old viewing announcement is still a useful time capsule

The original article announced an April 22, 2014 peak and a webcast beginning on the preceding evening in US Eastern time. It also discussed moonlight affecting that year’s observations. Those details explain the occasion for the article but should not be read as the schedule for another April. An annual event can recur while its practical viewing conditions change.

Watch the sky rather than chase a promised count

Meteor watching includes quiet intervals as well as the sudden streaks that make the photographs memorable. A quoted hourly rate does not distribute the events evenly or guarantee that a particular observer will see them all. That is why the old livestream schedule and the general explanation serve different purposes. The schedule records an occasion in April 2014; the NASA overview explains the recurring shower. The accompanying historical video adds another view without becoming a forecast for a future night.