Three Words: Meteor Shower Tonight
According to News 10, if you like a good meteor shower, tonight into tomorrow morning could be a very exciting time for you. The meteor shower known as the "April Lyrids" is going to be quite visible during this time.
For those of you, much like me, who were otherwise occupied doing something other than astronomy in astronomy class, here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Lyrids meteor shower:
The April Lyrids (LYR, IAU shower number 6 [4]) are a meteor shower lasting from April 16 to April 26[5] each year. The radiant of the meteor shower is located in the constellation Lyra, near this constellation's brightest star, Alpha Lyrae (proper name Vega). Their peak is typically around April 22 each year.
The source of the meteor shower is particles of dust shed by the long-period Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher.[1] The April Lyrids are the strongest annual shower of meteors from debris of a long-period comet, mainly because as far as other intermediate long-period comets go (200–10,000 years), this one has a relatively short orbital period of about 415 years. The Lyrids have been observed and reported since 687 BC; no other modern shower has been recorded as far back in time.[6]
So, there you go.
Here's some rather non-technical stuff about the shower tonight: look up and to the northeast and you'll probably see some meteors, although I'm not sure of the exact time.
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