Astronomy: The night of the shooting stars is imminent

The annual spring meteor shower of the Lyrids will reach its peak on Sunday night this year. “The strongest activity is predicted for three o’clock,” reported Sven Melchert from the Association of Star Friends in Heppenheim, Hesse. However, the chances of a glimpse of the shooting stars are not good, because at night a low with clouds and rain is moving over Germany from the west. “It takes luck,” said the meteorologist at the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach, Adrian Leyser. In the first half of the night, the sky can only be clear in the far east between Western Pomerania and East Saxony, in the second half of the night there are always times in the west Gaps between the clouds possible. Without clouds, the night would be ideal to see as many shooting stars as possible, as the expert Melchert explained. Because the night sky is very dark thanks to the new moon shortly beforehand, so that weaker shooting stars would also be visible. The meteorids of the Lyrids dive into the earth’s atmosphere at a speed of around 180,000 kilometers per hour and burn up, causing the surrounding air to glow – this is visible as shooting stars scurrying across the sky. “Theoretically, around 20 Lyrid shooting stars occur every hour, which is at least one every three minutes. In practice, you usually have to be satisfied with less,” said Melchert.