Lyrid Meteor Shower
The Lyrids peak. Reuters

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, and it's expected to put on a pretty decent show. The Lyrids are not as famous as the Perseids, but the shooting stars are a spring treat for stargazers.

Like other meteor showers, the Lyrids are the result of a debris trail left behind by a comet. Each year, Earth passes through the leftover debris of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The meteors are bits of rock and dust that appear to come from the constellation Lyra, which gives the shower its name. The Lyrids will officially peak Thursday morning, but they will be plenty active Wednesday night. In the Northern Hemisphere, look up to find Lyra high in the night sky. The first meteor shower of the year -- the Quadrantids -- had to contend with a full moon, but the Lyrids will fare better. A waxing crescent moon will set during the evening and will leave the sky dark enough for easy meteor viewing, the International Meteor Organization reports.

"Lyrid meteors are best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, but are visible from many sites north and south of the equator. As the radiant rises during the night, watches can be carried out usefully after about 22h30m [10:30 p.m.] local time from mid-northern sites, but only well after midnight from the mid-Southern Hemisphere," IMO notes.

Universe Today has a good map of where Lyra will be in the night sky. The constellation contains the fifth-brightest star in the night sky -- Vega -- which will help stargazers find the radiant of the Lyrids. The moon will ruin the Eta Aquariid and Dleta Aquariid meteor showers -- in May and July, respectively -- which means stargazers will have to wait until the Perseids in August to enjoy a decent meteor shower. NASA's meteor expert Bill Cooke expects a range of 15 to 20 meteors an hour during the Lyrids' peak.