Monday 18th to Sunday 24th April 2022
The evening of Friday 22nd sees the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower. The radiant point where the meteors appear to originate from is slightly above and to the right of the constellation of Lyra. After dark, the constellation will be towards the north east and as we proceed through the night, it climbs higher in the sky.
The Moon does not rise above the horizon until 4am on the Saturday morning, so it won't be producing any light pollution to spoil your view of the shooting stars that are the debris from comet Thatcher.
Nobody in current times has seen the actual comet. Your children will never see it either as comet Thatcher takes 417 years to orbit around the Sun and it's currently 107 Astronomical Units away which is 107 times further away from the Sun than we are. In 45 years the comet will be at its furthest point from the Sun, to use the correct term, at Apogee and will then begin a slow return towards the centre of our Solar System!
An interesting event occurs around 5am on the morning of Sunday 24th. If you look to the east, you will see four of our neighbouring planets forming a straight diagonal line - from left to right - Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn with a Last Quarter Moon thrown in for good measure to the right of that!
Please don't be tempted to use a telescope or binoculars to obtain a better view as the Sun will be rising and you must never catch even a glimpse of the Sun through a telescope as it will cause instant and permanent blindness!
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2022
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