☄️ The Lyrids meteor shower

People have been watching this shower for more than 2,600 years. Active from 14 to 30 April.

The next peak · in 174 days

23 April 2027 at 01:38 UTC

Up to 18 meteors an hour under a dark sky. The Moon is 95% lit that night. Bright moonlight hides all but the brightest meteors.

The best hours are usually after midnight and before dawn, on the night of the peak and the night before.

The next few years

22 April 2028 at 07:48 UTCMoon 6% lit · A dark sky: a good year to watch.
22 April 2029 at 13:57 UTCMoon 58% lit · Some moonlight, so fewer faint meteors.
22 April 2030 at 20:06 UTCMoon 71% lit · Bright moonlight hides all but the brightest meteors.

At its peak: Up to 18 meteors an hour under a dark sky
Active: 14 to 30 April
Seems to come from: Lyra
Where to see it: Best from the northern half of Earth
Made by: Dust from Comet Thatcher

How to watch

Get away from city lights if you can, and give your eyes 20 minutes to get used to the dark. Don’t look at your phone.
Lie back and look at a wide stretch of sky. Meteors appear anywhere, though their trails point back to Lyra.
No telescope or binoculars: they show too little of the sky. Your eyes are best.
“Up to 18 an hour” is for a perfectly dark sky. From a town, expect a fraction of that.

Other meteor showers

All of them

Quadrantids Eta Aquariids Perseids Orionids Leonids Geminids Ursids

Peak dates from the International Meteor Organization’s list of showers, worked out for each year; the Moon worked out with Astronomy Engine. Times are UTC until the page has loaded, then your own time zone.