The Lyrid Meteor Shower
From time to time there are huge benefits of getting up at 3:30 in the morning. When the nice weather arrives, I get to enjoy some wonderful afternoons since I finish work at 12noon. Of course I also see some great sunrise moments too. But, today was especially nice.
While watching the evening news last night Meteorologist Scott Hetsko from WROC in Rochester, New York mentioned the Lyrid Meteor shower. Every year around this time Earth passes through the tail of Comet Thatcher resulting in a meteor shower, known as the Lyrids. This year the best time to view the shower was this morning, April 22nd, between about 3:30 to 5:30am. Guess what? I happen to arrive at the radio station weekday mornings around 4am!
When I arrived at the station I decided to lean against my car for a few moments and look toward the moon to see if I might catch a glimpse of any Lyrids. My time was not wasted as I soon caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a shooting star, but it was like no other shooting star I’ve ever seen before. Instead I saw what looked like a ball of fire with a long sparkling tail. What an amazing sight! I couldn’t believe my eyes and I must admit it took me back to my college Astronomy class when I looked toward the sky to identify various star clusters. The star people said 3 to 10 meteors per hour were expected during this years Lyrid Meteor Shower. I’m glad I took a few moments out of my morning to pause and look toward the sky to catch the glimpse of one of those Lyrids flying through the sky.
In the words of Spock — Fascinating.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
