While the Moon has often been an unwelcome visitor during major meteor showers recently, this isn't the case this time. New Moon occurs on the 21st this month, meaning the Moon will set with the Sun. This leaves an entire moonless night of meteor viewing - although the activity will be limited until after midnight. Just as the front windshield of your car collects more rain droplets as you drive than does the rear windshield, once our local part of the Earth has rotated past midnight it becomes the leading face as the Earth moves forward in its orbit around the Sun.
This year's Lyrid meteor shower will likely produce around 20 meteors per hour, although there have been rare instances when the shower produces an outburst of over 50 per hour.
Meteor shower viewing can sometimes produce spectacular bursts of light that you'll remember for years to come. Other times, different causes can produce memorable stories. Several years ago as a graduate student, I headed out for a night of meteor viewing. Grabbing a cup of coffee from a 7-Eleven, I found a dirt road in the middle of farm land and pulled over. I then clambered onto the roof of my car, spread out a blanket, and laid down to watch the sky. Around 3 a.m., a truck slowly drove by my car, checking to see what I was up to. Because it had its headlights on, I closed my eyes to avoid losing my dark adapted vision. About 10 minutes later, a police car pulled up - apparently called by those people in the truck. After a brief chat with the officer and an explanation about the meteor shower happening over our heads, he went on his way - probably shaking his head at the silly young man laying on his car in the middle of the night in a corn field. That's a story I will never forget!
The night air this month will most likely be cold, so make sure you bundle up tight when you head outside. With any luck, there will be no snow on the ground so if you can find a dark location outside of town then bring a blanket and something hot to drink and set up camp to see what this year's Lyrid meteor shower has in store for us.
Happy viewing!
