Lyrid meteor shower peak on Friday, today 22 April

info: ANAMPA

People in the northern hemisphere, including Greece, will be treated to a celestial 'fireworks' show this week, as the Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 22, Earth Day, with the greatest visibility between Friday night and just before dawn Saturday.

    The Lyrids, are a strong meteor shower occurring annually in mid-to-late April, and take their name from the constellation Lyra, where the radiant of the meteor shower appears to be located, but the source of the meteor shower is actually the periodic Comet C/1861 Thatcher.

    It is the oldest meteor shower recorded by humans, with the first recorded observation being in 687 BC by a Chinese man who wrote of "stars falling like rain".

    The 'shooting stars' are in actuality the dusty trail of the comet Thatcher. Particles the size of grains of sand shed by the comet shoot through the sky at over 100,000 miles per hour that "light up" when the reach the earth's atmosphere.

info:  Photo by ANA-MPA/EPA/G. Licovski)

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