Late Wednesday evening, April 22, will see the start of the peak of the first major meteor shower of the year, the Lyrid, which will be best observed in the north eastern night sky after 21:40 and before the crescent moon rises just after 04:00 on the 22nd.

Named after the constellation Lyra, the Lyrid, which are visible from April 16 to 25 each year, are one of the oldest recorded meteor showers, according to historical Chinese texts, that confirm the shower was known over 2,500 years ago.

The meteors are debris from comet Thatcher, which enter our atmosphere as the earth passes through the remnants of the comet’s tail, left after its previous visits to the inner Solar System. Comet Thatcher takes about 415 years to orbit around the Sun and is expected to be visible from Earth again in 2276. It should be noted that the comet was not named after a previous UK Prime Minister!

To watch for meteors choose a dark area devoid of artificial lights and be patient, it will take around 15-20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the darkness.