Celebrate Earth Day With a Meteor Light Show! Monday, April 22nd, is Earth Day and it coincides this year with the Lyrid Meteor showers, one of the most impressive displays in the sky. The Lyrid showers can feature as many as 20-100 meteors per hour, with higher bursts of activity, called “meteor storms,” and viewings of the rarer, large “Fireballs” possible.

Lyra ascends the horizon around 10:00pm, which initiates the meteor shower, but the best time for viewing in the Northeast is early Monday morning, from 3:30am onward. With the moon setting so late this time of the month, the moonlight may be rather bright, but plenty of shooting stars still should be visible all over the sky.

So grab a comfy chair, wrap yourself in a blanket, and settle in with a hot toddy or thermos of coffee. Enjoy the show, maybe go back to bed for a nap, and then figure out what to do with the rest of Earth Day.

Want to help the Earth? Want to learn more? For more information on what you can do, visit www.earthday.org

Photo credits: Nightsky image from flickr.com, Lyra Constellation from earthsky.org

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