Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight: How to see April's top astronomy event
From the return of shooting stars to a planetary gathering, here are the top astronomy events to mark on your April 2025 calendar.
The first meteor shower in over three months is about to send shooting stars streaking across the night sky, an event visible around the globe—weather permitting.
The peak of the Lyrid meteor shower will occur on the night of Monday, April 21, into the early morning of Tuesday, April 22. Although it is a fairly typical event, with up to 20 shooting stars per hour, it garners extra attention from stargazers as the first meteor shower since the Quadrantids, which peaked during the first weekend of 2025. Additionally, it is a perfect occasion for folks to spend extra time outdoors celebrating Earth Day, which falls on Tuesday.
Shooting stars raining down on Earth during a meteor shower. (Getty Images/m-gucci)
The best time to view the Lyrids will be during the second half of the night, when it will have some competition in the sky in the form of the waning crescent moon. The additional moonlight can make it more challenging to spot some meteors, so experts recommend looking for meteors in darker areas of the sky where the moon is out of sight.
Weather conditions can also impact viewing the Lyrids this year, particularly across Canada and the eastern United States.
A storm over the eastern half of North America will spread clouds across most of the East Coast of the United States as well as much of Ontario and Quebec. However, there could be breaks in the clouds over some of the more populated areas of Ontario. Additionally, a second storm will bring cloudy conditions across most of the Canadian Prairies and into the north-central U.S.
The best viewing conditions are expected across the western United States, as well as a pocket in the Midwest where mainly clear skies are forecast.
The Lyrids will remain active on Tuesday night, offering a second opportunity for those under cloudy skies on Monday night to view the meteor shower."
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The next meteor shower is right around the corner as the Eta Aquarids are set to peak on the night of May 5-6. This is the best meteor shower of the year south of the equator where up to 60 meteors per hour can be seen, but onlookers across North America may still see 10 to 30 per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.
Following the back-to-back events, the next meteor shower is not expected to peak until the end of July.
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