Lyrids meteor showers to be visible post midnight today

New Delhi: A celestial treat is in store for stargazers who can look forward to see fireworks in the form of meteor showers after midnight on Sunday.

The shooting stars will start at 12.30 am and peak between 3 am to 5 am. Commonly known as Lyrids meteor showers, they will be visible from the entire northern hemisphere in the constellation of Lyra. "The best time to watch the shooting stars is between 3 am to 5 am tomorrow," SPACE Director CB Devgun said, adding the phenomena can be observed in the northeast to northern directions in the sky. Observers can expect to see up to 20 "shooting stars" per hour -- an average of one every three minutes -- at the peak, he said. However, only brightest of the meteors will be seen as an 85-percent bright Moon may obscure some of the shooting stars. The meteors have their origin from the Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The velocity of particles entering the Earth would be 49 km/sec, N Raghunandan Kumar, Secretary of Planetary Society of India said. PTI