Lyrids meteor shower visible in Sri Lanka

One of the oldest known annual meteor showers, known as Lyrids, will be visible in Sri Lanka on April 16 and will run through until April 25, says Director, Astronomy and Space Science Unit, University of Colombo Prof. Chandana Jayaratne.

In a press release, he added that the meteor shower will peak on the night of April 22.

Prof. Jayaratne says the meteor shower is best seen during early morning hours before the sunrise together with Jupiter, Saturn and Mars close to the overhead and Mercury above the eastern horizon.

Meteors of the  Lyrids appear to come from the constellation of Lyra and from a single point in the sky – the radiant – that lies just above the bright blue star Vega, the release read.

Between April 16-25, a few meteors can be seen per night, but on the night of April 22, the Earth will encounter the densest part of the meteor stream. With that, the rates of meteors increases, some 5-20 per hour or so, Prof. Jayaratne says. “After 17th, the Moon will be out of the way allowing us to see the full display unhindered,” he added.

This period is favourable for sky observations as air pollution caused by human activities has become minimum due to coronavirus pandemic and is resulting in very clear skies, the release read further.

“The time period from 4.00 am to 5.30 am is likely to be most productive, especially towards the end of the morning shift. At this time the radiant position will be almost overhead towards North-Eastern skies. Locate the radiant and look away from it rather than directly at it. You should be able to spot meteors flying in the opposite direction,” Prof. Jayaratne stated.