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Lyrid meteor shower Edinburgh: How to see up to 18 shooting stars per hour

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date22 April 2024
AuthorNeil Shaw
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
The cosmic event will see up to 18 meteors per hour streaking across the dawn skies, with the best views expected in the early hours of Tuesday, April 23, lasting until dawn

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has noted that observers can expect to see bright fast meteors, some even featuring glowing tails. Named after the constellation Lyra the Harp, from which these meteors seem to radiate, the Lyrids promise an astronomical spectacle.

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However, visibility may be slightly reduced compared to last year due to the brightness of this month's Full Moon illuminating the sky.

Meteor showers, commonly known as shooting stars, occur when debris, or meteorites, enter our planet's atmosphere at high speedsabout 43 miles per second in this instanceigniting and creating dazzling light trails. This particular shower originates from the Thatcher Comet, which is on a 415-year orbit and isn't expected back in the inner solar system until 2276.

Professor Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick explains the phenomenon: "As comets orbit the Sun, the action of the energy evaporates material from the cometary nucleus, which we see as a comet's tail. The gas and dust created stay in the comet's orbit, even long after the comet has moved along its orbit.", reports Wales Online.

"If the Earth passes through the comet's orbit any material deposited by the comet could become...

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