Keep an eye on the skies, the next celestial show starts soon and promises shooting stars.
The Lyrid meteor shower will begin this week and could bring some fireballs to the skies over Ohio. Here’s what to know.
The biggest astronomical events in 2025: Every eclipse, comet, meteor shower to see in Ohio
When is the Lyrid meteor shower?
The Lyrid meteor shower will light up the sky from April 17 to 26 but will peak the night of Monday, April 21, to Tuesday, April 22, according to NASA. The moon will be about 40% full that night, according to the American Meteor Society, which might interfere with some of the show.
According to NASA, the Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, first recorded by the Chinese in 687 B.C. The Lyrids are fast and bright meteors that can show as many as 100 meteors per hour during the peak. In general, though, the shower only shows 10 to 20 meteors per hour.
While these meteors don’t tend to leave long, glowing trails behind them as they streak through the Earth’s atmosphere, they can produce the occasional bright flash called a fireball, per NASA.
Stars illuminate the sky on a clear night on April 20, 2020, during the Lyrid meteor shower. Multiple exposures were combined in camera to produce this image.
What’s the weather forecast for the Lyrid meteor shower?
Ohio’s fickle spring weather also might not cooperate on the night the Lyrids will peak. The long-range AccuWeather forecast on the night of April 21 for Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati shows partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain in central and southern Ohio.
In Akron, cloudy skies are in the forecast on Thursday, the first night of the meteor shower, and will continue on Friday. Rain is in the forecast on Saturday, with clouds again on Sunday and more rain during the day on Monday.
Clouds will mix with sun on Thursday in Columbus, per the forecast, with the clouds clearing out on Friday. Showers and storms blow in on Saturday, followed by cloudy skies Sunday and rain during the day on Monday.
In Cincinnati, the forecast calls for cloudy skies on Thursday clearing on Friday. The weekend’s forecast calls for “considerable cloudiness” with storms on Saturday followed by cloudy skies Sunday and rain Monday.
Suni Williams: Ohio native stuck in space returns after nine months on the ISS. Who is she?
What time is the meteor shower tonight? The best way to view the Lyrids
The meteor shower is best viewed during the darkest hours of the night, after the moon sets and before dawn, according to NASA.
For the best view, the space agency recommends finding a place away from city lights. Viewers should bring a blanket or sleeping bag so they can lie flat on their backs, with their feet pointing east, and look up at the sky. After about half an hour, when their eyes adapt to the dark, viewers should start seeing meteors. The show should last until dawn.
During the 2012 Lyrid meteor shower, astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station trained his video camera on Earth below. Photo shows meteors burning up in the atmosphere.
What are the Lyrids, and where do they come from?
Meteors are debris from comets or broken asteroids. In the case of the Lyrids, they originate from comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, discovered on April 5, 1861, by A. E. Thatcher, according to NASA. Every year, the earth passes through the debris left behind by comets. The pieces of space debris then burn up in the atmosphere, creating fiery bursts or streaks in the sky.
The Lyrids appear to originate in the night sky from the area around the constellation Lyra, which is where the meteors get their name.
After Lyrid, Eta Aquarid and Perseid meteor showers are not far behind
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower is expected to peak this year from May 4 to 5, according to NASA, and will be followed by the big show, the Perseid meteor shower. The Perseids will peak from Aug. 12 to 13 with 50 to 100 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
What are the Eta Aquarids?
Appearing to originate from the constellation Aquarius, the Eta Aquarids peak in early May each year. The meteors are known for their speed, and they can leave glowing “trains” — bits of debris in their wake — that can last for up to a full minute, according to NASA.
The meteors originate from Halley’s Comet, which returns every 76 years and was last seen in 1986.
What are the Perseids?
The Perseids appear to originate from the constellation Perseus and are considered to be the best meteor shower of the year, according to NASA. At their peak, the Perseids can generate up to 100 meteors per hour.
These meteors originate from comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 133 years and was last seen in 1992. Swift-Tuttle is large, with a nucleus measuring 16 miles wide. According to NASA, that’s nearly twice the size of the object thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lyrid meteor showers 2025: When they peak, Ohio weather forecast