Click the link below the picture

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It takes 415.5 years for a comet called C/1861 G1 Thatcher to do a loop around the sun. But every year in late April, our planet plows into the trail of dust the comet has left behind in its long journey. These bits of debris burn up in our atmosphere and stream across the night sky in bright streaks. It’s the Lyrid meteor shower, and it’s peaking tonight.

The Lyrids are so named because they appear to radiate out from the constellation Lyra. Humans have been watching them since 687 BC in China, according to Space.com’s Joe Rao.

On Monday night, Lyra will rise in the Northeast in the early evening hour, and then move overhead through the evening. It is pretty easy to spot, as it includes the star Vega, which is among the brightest in the night sky. You don’t need to be looking directly at the constellation to see the show, though, because the meteors will shoot out in all directions.

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The Milky Way and Lyrids in the night sky over northern Germany in 2018.Daniel Reinhardt/AFP/Getty Images

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Click the link below for the article:

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/4/22/18312078/lyrid-meteor-shower-2019-how-to-watch

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