Surges Of Up To 100 Meteors Per Hour Will Light Up The Indiana Skies During The 2020 Lyrid Meteor Shower This April
By Elizabeth Crozier|Published March 24, 2020
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Elizabeth Crozier
Author
An Illinois transplant who grew up and went to school in Indiana for 22 years, Elizabeth holds a BFA in creative writing and has enjoyed traveling across the country and parts of Europe. She has visited half of the states, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and regularly travels home to the Hoosier State to see friends and family. With more than five years of writing experience, Elizabeth’s articles have been featured on several websites, and her poetry and short stories have been published in multiple literary journals.
The 2020 Lyrid meteor shower will be visible from Indiana, and you won’t want to miss it. Expect fireballs and 100 meteors an hour. It is definitely worth your time to stay up all night for this show. Scroll on for more details.
One of the oldest meteor showers ever recorded, the Lyrids have been witnessed for the past 2,500 years and are expected to peak soon between April 21-22, 2020.
Made up of debris from the comet Thatcher, this meteor shower typically lasts between April 16 and 25 of each year. The comet visits the inner solar system every 415 years. The last time it was close enough to see was in 1861, and it is expected to be visible from Earth again in 2276.
Though there is no way to predict exactly when they will occur, surges of at least 100 meteors per hour are expected during the peak. Otherwise, you can expect about 10 to 15 per hour.
Fortunately, the moon will be nowhere near full on the nights that meteors are supposed to peak. Finding a place with little to no light pollution is ideal for seeing this celestial show.
Luckily, Hoosiers are in the northern hemisphere where we get a front-row seat to the Lyrids. Those in the southern hemisphere may get to see some, but it's those of us who can see the Lyra constellation, for which the meteor shower is named, that can see it best.
In order to find the Lyra constellation, look directly up into the night sky and locate a very bright bluish star, which is Vega. This forms the very north tip of the constellation.
Are you going to stay up for the 2020 Lyrid Meteor Shower? Share your plans with us below in the comments.