Tuesday, April 22
23 shooting stars every hour: Lyrid meteor shower appears over Berlin
Over the nights of April 22 and 23, stargazers in Berlin are set for a spectacle as the Lyrid meteor shower appears in the night sky. This annual celestial display occurs when small meteorites and dust particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up upon entry and forming “shooting stars”. The Lyrids are in fact the oldest still-occurring meteor shower on record: the phenomenon has been observed and reported since 687 BC.
The shower gets its name from the constellation Lyra, a cluster of stars often represented as an eagle carrying a harp, or lyre. The best time for spotting the shooting stars is shortly before dawn, when enthusiasts will be able to observe between 14 and 23 occurrences every hour.
