Meteor Showers

Beginning tonight—20 April—the Lyrid Meteor Showers will be visible to most of the Northern Hemisphere. The Lyrids are caused by the Earth passing through the dusty tail of Comet Thatcher, a non-periodic comet, named (in modern-times) in 1861, although it has been dip-zipping around the sun for a millennium or twenty-six.

The dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, 22 April, will be the peak time to see these comet-trail based meteor showers. The Lyrids will end on Wednesday, 23 April.

The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. — Mark Twain (born and died in the years that Halley's Comet was closest to Earth, 1835-1910)