The Lyrid meteor shower generally begins on April 16 and ends on April 26, with maximum generally occurring during the night of April 21/22. At maximum, hourly rates can reach about 10 meteors per hour, meteorshowersonline.com says.

The Lyrid meteor shower is not one of the strongest of the annual meteor showers, but it can be enjoyable to those meteor observers thirsting for something after over three and a half months of weak meteor activity.

The Lyrids are particularly interesting for two reasons. First, observations have been identified back to at least 2600 years, which is longer than any other meteor shower.

Second, the meteor shower occasionally experiences an outburst of about 100 meteors per hour and the reason is basically unknown.