Colorado stargazers have something to look forward to this month.
The Lyrid meteor shower returns in full swing, and will be visible each night – weather permitting – for about the next two weeks.
It's an annual event each April, when earth runs into debris from the comet Thatcher.
NASA says the best time to look up is around 9 p.m., away from the city lights. The shower will peak this Friday and Saturday, April 21 and 22.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower offers 10 to 15 meteors per hour at its peak on a moonless night, but are known for uncommon surges that can sometimes bring rates of up to 100 per hour.
The meteors probably won't have dusty tails, but stargazers might see a few flashes called fireballs.
Most meteor showers are caused by debris from a passing comet.
Comet Thatcher will be back in the year 2278. But its debris trail will be here every April until then in the form of the Lyrids.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower has the distinction of being among the oldest of known meteor showers. Records of this shower go back for some 2,700 years.
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