The Lyrid Meteor Shower

What's up in space

Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio.   LYRID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend on the night of April 21-22 when Earth passes through a stream of debris from ancient Comet Thatcher. Usually the shower is mild (10-20 meteors per hour) but unmapped filaments of dust in the comet's tail sometimes trigger outbursts ten times stronger. This year's peak coincides with a new Moon, which has prompted NASA to attempt an unusual 3D meteor photography experiment. Browse the links for more information: observing tips, meteor radar, NASA chat, 3D meteors, Lyrid video. RUBBER CHICKEN FLIES INTO SOLAR STORM: In a unusual twist on space science, students in California have launched a rubber chicken to the edge of space to study a solar storm. Get the full story from Science@NASA. INCOMING PLASMA CLOUDS: On April 18th and 19th, a series of minor CMEs puffed away from the sun. Three of them are heading in our general direction. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have prepared an animated forecast track of the ensemble: According to the forecast, the clouds are going to hit Mercury, Earth, Mars and rover Curiosity en route to Mars. The impact on our planet, on April 22nd around 00:50 UT, is expected to be minor with auroras likely only at higher latitudes. Aurora alerts: text, voice. ARCTIC AURORA RECAP: As the midnight sun returns to the Arctic, northern sky watchers are looking back on the 2011-2012 aurora season with pleasure. "There has definitely been increased activity this season as the solar cycle heads toward a maximum in 2013," says photographer Ole C. Salomonsen. "To commemorate the season I have assembled a video from photos I took in northern parts of Norway, Finland and Sweden from fall 2011 to spring 2012." Click to play: . "This video marks the end of a very exciting aurora season for me," says Salomonsen. "It has made me very excited for the upcoming season (autumn 2012), and what it has to offer in terms of celestial lights and experiences!" This doesn't mean that auroras are gone for everyone. The Arctic Circle may be brightening with summer sunlight, but lower latitudes still have enough darkness for Northern Lights. Indeed, upper-middle latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on April 20th. NOAA forcasters estimate a 35% chance of geomagnetic activity as Earth enters a region of negative polarity IMF.   Near Earth Asteroids Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time. On April 21, 2012 there were 1287 potentially hazardous asteroids. Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Mag. Size 2012 GW11 Apr 18 4.9 LD -- 24 m 1996 SK Apr 18 67.2 LD -- 1.6 km 2007 HV4 Apr 19 4.8 LD -- 8 m 2012 GP1 Apr 21 9 LD -- 26 m 2012 HN1 Apr 21 5.2 LD -- 18 m 2012 HE Apr 22 6.9 LD -- 32 m 2012 HQ Apr 24 9.8 LD -- 42 m 2012 HM Apr 28 1.5 LD -- 68 m 2011 WV134 Apr 28 38.6 LD -- 1.6 km 1992 JD May 2 9.5 LD -- 43 m 2010 KK37 May 19 2.3 LD -- 31 m 4183 Cuno May 20 47.4 LD -- 5.7 km 2002 VX94 May 26 72.8 LD -- 1.1 km 2002 AC Jun 16 62.2 LD -- 1.2 km 1999 BJ8 Jun 16 68.8 LD -- 1.1 km 2005 GO21 Jun 21 17.1 LD -- 2.2 km Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.   Essential web links NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center   The official U.S. government space weather bureau Atmospheric Optics   The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. Solar Dynamics Observatory   Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. STEREO   3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory Solar and Heliospheric Observatory   Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. Daily Sunspot Summaries   from the NOAA Space Environment Center Heliophysics   the underlying science of space weather Trade Show Displays   more links...