Lyrids 2026
One of the oldest recorded showers — modest rates but occasional bright fireballs.
Viewing conditions this year
The Moon will be 32% illuminated on the peak night — fair — some moonlight. Moonlight will wash out the faintest meteors, but the brighter ones — including any fireballs — will still punch through. Position yourself with the Moon out of your field of view.
What causes a meteor shower?
Comets (and a few asteroids) shed streams of dust along their orbits. When Earth crosses one of those streams — the same dates every year — the particles hit our atmosphere in parallel, appearing to radiate from one point in the sky. Each visible meteor is typically a fragment the size of a sand grain, vaporizing 80–100 km overhead.
How to actually see meteors
No telescope — your eyes have the widest field of view. Get away from city lights, give your eyes 20–30 minutes to dark-adapt (no phone screens), lie back, and watch as much sky as possible. Rates are almost always best after midnight, when your side of Earth faces into the stream. The quoted ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) is a perfect-conditions ceiling; expect to see a third to half of it under a good dark sky, less with moonlight.
Where it comes from
Lyrids meteors are debris shed by C/1861 G1 (Thatcher). They appear to radiate from the constellation Lyra, and the shower is best seen from the northern hemisphere. Rates build over the active window (Apr 14 – Apr 30) and drop quickly after the peak.
Get a push the evening this shower peaks
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What’s passing, what’s visible, what hit.