WASHINGTON, April 18 (Xinhua) -- One of the best meteor showers of the year, the Lyrid meteor shower, has started and will hit its peak in the early morning hours of April 22.
According to a video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Lyrid meteor shower is active from April 14 through April 30. But in the Northern Hemisphere, it peaks on April 22.
Up to 20 meteors per hour will likely be visible overnight on April 21 to April 22, according to the JPL.
To view the Lyrid shower, observers should find an area away from light pollution on the night of April 21. As the waxing moon may interfere with visibility, the best time to view it is the few hours after the moon sets.
Special equipment like telescopes and binoculars are not necessary to view the Lyrid meteor shower, which is safe to view with naked eyes.
The Lyrids are classified as a medium-strength shower and are visible every year in April, according to the Space Science Telescope Institute.
The Lyrid meteor shower is one of the oldest known meteor showers. Records of this shower go back some 2,700 years, according to American astronomer Bruce McClure.
Ancient Chinese are said to have observed the Lyrid meteors falling like rain in the year 687 B.C., McClure wrote on EarthSky.?
