Lyrids, Pi Puppids: 2 meteor showers for sky watchers

A Lyrid meteor shower (INQUIRER.net stock images)

MANILA, Philippines — The Lyrid meteor shower will light up the sky this week, with the expected peak on Friday.

Lyrids — one of the oldest known showers that go way back to over 2,700 years ago — are observable from April 16 to 25, but the peak of the shower is at 4 a.m. on April 22, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in its astronomical diary.

“The meteor shower can be observed when Hercules, the meteor shower’s radiant rises at around 9:17 p.m. nightly and remains active until around 5:14 a.m. of the following day,” Pagasa said.

The shower will produce the best display shortly before dawn, with up to 18 observable meteors per hour, it said.

The Pi Puppids, meanwhile, are visible from April 15 to April 28. The best visibility will be on April 24.

The view of the meteor shower can be observed after sunset until the shower’s radiant sinks toward Pi Puppids in the horizon around 10:09 p.m., Pagasa said.