Starwatch: Lyrids meteor shower returns to the skies

Annual event promises between five and 20 meteors an hour with a few rare cases becoming much brighter fireballs'

The Lyrids are a meteor shower that derive from the tail of the comet Thatcher.

Discovered by AE Thatcher in 1861, the comet is on a 422-year orbit of the sun and will not be returning to the inner solar system until 2283. Every year between 15 and 29 April, the Earth encounters the dust particles that it has left behind, with the peak of activity usually occurring on the night of 22 April, leading into the 23rd. The chart shows the view looking north-east from London at 22.00 BST on 22 April. The meteors radiate from the area labelled Lyrids and can shoot in any direction away from this point.