Saturday, April 17, 2010

How to View the Lyrids


Above:The rate of meteor activity is usually greatest near dawn because the earth's orbital motion is in the direction of the dawn terminator. Earth scoops up meteoroids on the dawn side of the planet and outruns them on the dusk side.

Lyrid meteors can be seen anytime after midnight when the constellation Lyra is well above the horizon. The best time to look is between about 3 a.m. and dawn. That's when the local sky is pointing directly into the meteoroid debris stream (see the diagram below). The early morning hours of April 23 and April 24 should be good times to watch no matter where you live.

based on http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1999/ast21apr99_1/

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