Lyrids and Mosquitoids

Look in the sunset-to-midnight hours of April 21 and 22 for the best chance of seeing meteors of the Lyrid shower, usually one of the strongest of the year.

Here from page 134 of Astronomical Calendar 2026 (where there is much more about this shower and others) is the scene as the radiant – the point from which the meteors fly out – comes up into view over the eastern horizon.

As the night goes on, the radiant climbs higher, so that more meteor trails will be above the horizon.

The Lyrids are active from about April 14 to 30; that is, a few members of the broad stream of particles following the orbit of the comet from which they were shed, C/1861 G1 Thatcher, may appear in the sky. But the peak, when Earth is nearest to the core of the stream, is predicted this year for April 22 about 11h by Universal Time

The radiant is between the constellations Hercules and Lyra, so if you see a streak that can be traced back to near the bright star Vega in Lyra, it is a Lyrid and not a “sporadic” bit of space dust.

 

Commercial shooting stars

There are now more than 10,000 of Elon Musk’s Starlink artificial satellites in orbit. They form a mosquito net of light pollution between us and natural sights such as stars, metors, and comet C/2025 R3 PANSTARR.

 

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One thought on “Lyrids and Mosquitoids”

  1. I really hate Starlink and the follow-on constellations that are being launched by other countries to duplicate its capabilities! It’s very tedious to edit those streaks out of astro-images. The fact that its main purpose seems to be to give western militaries enhanced capabilities to wage war makes it even worse.

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