Earth Day is an annual event celebrating the environment around the world, and folks that want to kick off the special day outdoors can do so under the stars as a highly-anticipated meteor shower peaks.
For the first time in nearly four months, skywatchers of all ages will have the opportunity to spot some shooting stars as the Lyrid meteor shower takes center stage on the night of April 21 into the early hours of April 22, spelling an end to the meteor shower drought.
The last moderate meteor shower was the Quadrantids back in early January, although the wintry weather paired with the shower’s fickle nature may have dissuaded people from scanning the sky for meteors.
The Earth Day celestial event will boast around 15 to 20 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS). People all around the globe can watch the show, although more meteors will be seen from the Northern Hemisphere.
A few shooting stars may be seen streaking across the sky early in the night, but like many meteor showers, the best time to watch the event will be during the second half of the night as the frequency of meteors slowly increases.
Additionally, the moon will be emitting bothersome light pollution until after it sets around 3:30 a.m. or 4 a.m. local time, after which the darker sky will make it easier to see the dimmer meteors.
A few lucky onlookers may even spot incredibly bright meteors known as fireballs, which are periodically seen around the time that the Lyrids peak.
A bright meteor streaks over Joshua Tree, California, in 2015. (Image/Channone Arif)
This year may end up being a good year for the Lyrids due to favorable weather projected across most of North America.
Mainly clear to partly cloudy conditions are forecast for most of the southern, western and north-central U.S., although clouds may be an issue in parts of Florida and around Colorado and Kansas.
Clouds may also be problematic for stargazers across most of the Northeast and into Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Even though clear conditions are likely in big cities such as Houston and Atlanta, people may want to travel to a darker area away from disruptive light pollution.
If poor weather prevails on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, all is not lost.
The Lyrids have a plateaulike peak, so a similar number of meteors can be seen in the three nights centered around Earth Day, the AMS said.
However, the longer people wait to watch the celestial light show, the more disruptive the moon will become as it appears brighter each night leading up to the full moon on April 26.
After the Lyrids have come and gone, skywatchers will not have to wait as long for the next opportunity to see some shooting stars.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is set to peak in early May, just two weeks after the Lyrids.
This is the best meteor shower of the entire year for the Southern Hemisphere. It typically produces 40 to 60 meteors per hour, which averages out to nearly one per minute. Areas north of the equator will still be able to catch part of the show with hourly rates similar to the Lyrids.
( AccuWeather meteorologist and staff writer, contributed this report.)
