Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak in moonless skies this week

Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak in moonless skies this week,

British stargazers will be in for a spectacular treat this week – and the conditions are so good you won’t want to miss it.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower will reach its dazzling peak in the coming days, with up to 20 shooting stars per hour.

The celestial show will be at its absolute best on April 22, with great opportunities for meteor spotting in the early hours of the morning or late that night.

With the shower arriving just a few days after the new moon, there couldn’t be a better time to see the first meteor shower of spring.

This lucky timing means that the crescent moon will set before sunrise on Wednesday morning and disappear below the horizon before the Lyrids emerge again that night.

There will be very little light to interfere with the flash of shooting stars, making them much easier to see.

And the great news is that you won’t even need any special equipment to get the best view.

So, here’s everything you need to know to see the Lyrid Meteor Shower this week.

British stargazers will be in for a treat as the Lyrid Meteor shower reaches its peak on Wednesday, with up to 20 shooting stars every hour. Pictured: A Lyrid meteor seen in 2025

What is the Lyrid Meteor Shower?

Like all meteor showers, the Lyrids occur each year when the Earth passes through a patch of rocky debris floating around the sun.

As the planet sweeps through this pile of dust, tiny meteorites are scooped up like bugs on a car windshield.

Because the Earth is moving so quickly relative to the debris, these meteorites hit the atmosphere at tremendous speeds up to 31 miles per second (50 km/s).

Friction with the air heats the rocky particles to around 1,600°C (2,912°F), vaporising them in a flash we see as a meteor or shooting star.

Dr Shyam Balaji, of King’s College London, told the Mail: ‘The Lyrids are caused by Earth passing through the dusty trail left by Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, a long-period comet that orbits the Sun roughly every 415 years.

‘Lyrid meteors are known for being bright and fast, often leaving glowing trails in the sky that linger for a few seconds.’

Since that dusty trail is always at the same place in our orbit, the Lyrids have reliably peaked at the same time each year for millennia.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower is known for fast, bright meteors, with occasional trails lasting a second or two before fading. Pictured: The Lyrids seen over Surrey Hills

In fact, the Lyrids are the oldest known meteor shower still active today, with Chinese astronomers making the first recorded sighting in 687 BC.

How to see the Lyrid Meteor Shower

If you want to get the best view of the Lyrid Meteor Shower, timing is key.

The shower will come to its absolute peak on Wednesday, April 22, but it will also be very active on the days either side.

The best time to see meteors during the peak will be after midnight when the moon has set, from around 02:00 onwards on Wednesday or Thursday morning.

During this time, the sky will be dark, and the Earth will have swung to face the oncoming cloud of debris.

However, when it comes to the weather, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning will be the best viewing opportunity.

A Met Office spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘The chance for clear skies improves further tomorrow night, with much of England and Wales likely to be cloud-free, however high-level cloud will affect the far South West.

The Lyrids appear to emerge from a point in the sky, known as the radiant, located close to the constellation Lyra 

‘Further north, cloud will thicken across Scotland and northeast England overnight Tuesday, limiting the chances here significantly.

‘Cloud cover will increase generally overnight Wednesday with a lot of high-level cloud covering the country, so Tuesday night promises the best chance for most.’

To find the Lyrid Meteor Shower, all you need to do is find a space with a clear, open view of the sky.

Dr Balaji says: ‘The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Lyra, near the bright star Vega, which rises in the northeast during the late evening.

‘However, you don’t need to look directly at Lyra, meteors can appear in all parts of the sky, so a wide, dark, unobstructed view is best.’

Although the Lyrids are particularly bright meteors, they can still be difficult to see against background light.

That means it is best to avoid sources of light pollution such as street lights, houses, and car headlights.

You’ll also need to give your eyes plenty of time to adjust to the darkness, spending at least 20 to 30 minutes without using a torch or looking at your phone.

The early hours of Wednesday from midnight onwards will be the best time to see the Lyrids in the UK, as the South of England and Wales will be relatively cloud-free

If you miss the Lyrids, the next opportunity to see shooting stars will be the Eta Aquariids, which peak on March 5 and can produce some spectacular coloured fireballs (pictured)

The good news is that you won’t need any special equipment like binoculars or a telescope to see the Lyrids.

Since they move so fast and appear anywhere in the sky, any device that reduces your field of vision will only make it more difficult to catch the shooting stars as they appear.

All you need to do is get comfortable, lie back, and keep your eye out for bright streaks of light.

If you are lucky, you might even catch a few meteors from the Eta Aquariids, which overlaps with the Lyrid Meteor Shower.

The Eta Aquariids appear low in the sky and are associated with Halley’s Comet, starting from April 19 and building to their maximum on March 5.

This display can light up the sky with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak, making it a great one to look out for if you don’t catch the Lyrids this week.

After the Eta Aquariids, the next meteor shower won’t be until the slow, yellow fireballs of the Alpha Capricornids make an appearance on July 30.