Look up tonight, Lyrid meteor showers to peak. Will Ohio's weather cooperate? The forecast
Keep an eye on the skies. The Lyrid meteor shower will peak tonight and could bring shooting stars and fireballs to the skies over Ohio.
But will Ohio's fickle spring weather cooperate for the celestial show? Here's what to know.
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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.
Being Ohio, tonight's weather may not play nice for the meteor shower. Here's a look at the National Weather Service forecast.
In Akron, showers today will give way to partly cloudy skies tonight, according to the forecast, which could let people get a glimpse of the Lyrids.
Showers in Columbus also will give way to partly cloudy skies overnight, per the forecast.
And in Cincinnati, tonight's forecast also calls for partly cloudy skies Monday night into Tuesday.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 peaks tonight. Ohio weather forecast
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