Lyrids meteor shower visible April 21

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino sky gazers can watch out for the Lyrids, the oldest known meteor shower, this month, the state weather bureau said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the Lyrids will be visible on April 21 to predawn of April 22.

“The shower typically generates up to 20 meteors per hour under optimal conditions with a brief maximum that lasts for less than a day,” Pagasa said in its monthly astronomical diary last Friday.

“Although not numerous, Lyrids are bright and fast meteors,” it said.

According to Pagasa, the Lyrids meteor shower has been observed for more than 2,600 years.

Chinese records show that “stars fell like rain’” during the meteor shower of 687 BC, the weather bureau said.

“However, in recent times, the Lyrids have generally been weak,” Pagasa said.

The source of the meteor shower is the periodic Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher.

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky.

These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.

Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit the earth’s surface.