Meteor shower Monday night

MANILA, Philippines—Just look up.

The weather bureau’s Space Sciences and Astronomy Section (SSAS) on Sunday advised people to just look up at the sky before midnight on Monday to view the Lyrid meteor shower.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) SSAS observer Ed Lagocs said the meteor shower would be directly overhead at 11:30 p.m. on Monday and it could be viewed from any direction.

The Lyrid meteor shower has been observed for more than 2,600 years with Chinese records documenting that “stars fell like rain” in 687 BC.

According to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the Lyrid meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation of Lyra (the Lyre), particularly the bright star Vega, thus, its name.

Lyrids are dust and debris shed by the comet Thatcher, or C/1861 G1, which has a 415-year orbit in the solar system. The meteor shower occurs when the earth passes through the comet’s debris and the meteoroids disintegrate into streaks of light as they hit the atmosphere.—Jeannette I. Andrade