Lyrid meteor shower peaks alongside Elon Musk's new Space X project
An annual meteor shower will peak tonight with shooting stars lighting up the night sky for six hours.
The Lyrid meteor shower should be visible between midnight and dawn if skies stay clear.
Meteors are chunks of debris which have broken away from celestial objects such as asteroids and comets. The Lyrid meteors have come from comet Thatcher, which last passed close to the sun in 1861.
When Earth comes into contact with the debris, its gravity sweeps up some of these objects and they pass into our atmosphere.
There are expected to be around 20 meteors every hour, so with skies clear of air travel and a crescent moon in the sky, the light show should appear even more spectacular.
To get the best view, NASA suggests being “prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or garden chair. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible.”
Relax and let your eyes adjust to the night sky while you wait for the showers to pass by. The display will also be visible nearing the end of the month on April 30.
This won't be the only mysterious lights in the sky, onlookers in Europe and the UK were stunned to see a chain of star-like lights parading across the night sky this weekend.
These lights are part of Elon Musk's Space X programme, nicknamed Starlink.
The project aims to put thousands of small, low-orbit satellites above the Earth in order to improve internet service across the globe.
They are expected to be visible over the UK just before 10pm tonight.
April 21, 2020
3.30am - Starlink-3 for two minutes - look from south-east to east
5.03am - Starlink-3 or six minutes - look from west to east
8.58pm - Starlink-5, 6 for six minutes - look from south-west to east
10.34pm - Starlink-5, 6 for six minutes - look from west to north-east
April 22, 2020
4.04am - Starlink-3 for four minutes - look from west to east
9.34pm - Starlink-5, 6 for six minutes - look from west to east
April 23, 2020
3.06am - Starlink-3 for two minutes - look from east to east
4.39 am - Starlink-3 for six minutes - look from west to east
10.10pm - Starlink-5, 6 for six minutes - look from west to east
April 24, 2020
3.41am - Starlink-3 for four minutes - look from west to east
9.10pm - Starlink-5, 6 for six minutes - look from west to east
