Saturday night promises to be cold, a little damp and dark — a great night to be outdoors, if you’re a stargazer.
The hours from midnight until dawn Sunday will be prime time to observe the Lyrids, Earth’s annual April shower of meteoroids from the tail of Comet Thatcher.
Most years, the Lyrids arrival rates solidly on the B-list of dates on the celestial calendar, but this spring Earth will sweep through the cloud of space dust during a new moon — meaning extra-dark skies will throw the shooting stars into sharper relief, said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium.
“Conditions are particularly nice for the Lyrids this year, so as long as people are away from city lights. They should be a good show if people are patient,” Hammergren said.
Those looking skyward before dawn on Sunday should see 10 to 20 “shooting stars” per hour, provided they’re looking in the right direction. Lyrids will appear to stream from the northeast, streaking from the constellation Lyra, moving toward straight overhead as sunrise nears.
In some years, the Lyrids have produced bursts of up to 100 visible streaks per hour.
Most of the meteoroids will range in size from BBs to a penny, and will shine about as bright as the stars. Comet Thatcher, which orbits the sun once every 400 years or so, won’t be visible, Hammergren points out.
For those unwilling to brave the expected 40-degree temperatures late Saturday and early Sunday, Hammergren recommends that the Perseid shower in August tends to be more lively — 40 to 60 meteoroids per hour — and the weather warmer. And, of course, Adler also hosts a Perseid party each year at Cantigny Woods in the western suburbs.
For those interested in doing some stargazing from indoors, NASA will be hosting a live chat Saturday night, streaming video from its All Sky network, and attempting to capture 3-D images of the shower using cameras on the ground and mounted on an observation balloon.
“Dress for cold, bring warm drinks and bring friends along,” Hammergren said. “There’s a lot of time between (meteoroids), so it’s good to have friends along for these things.”
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