Lyrids, the first meteor shower of spring, to peak on Tuesday, Wednesday

The Lyrid Meteor Shower, the first meteor shower of spring, will peak in the sky of the northern hemisphere on Tuesday and Wednesday night. The sky will be dark enough for the meteor shower to be visible, as there is a new Moon, which will make observation easier if the sky is free of clouds, though that is not certain.

Named after constellation Lyra, the Lyrids are one of the oldest recorded meteor showers — according to some historical Chinese texts, the shower had been observed in 687 B.C, roughly 2,800 years ago. The fireballs or "shooting stars" in the meteor shower are created by debris from the long tail of the comet Thatcher, which intersects the Earth's orbit each year and takes about 415 years to orbit the Sun. The comet is expected to be visible from Earth again in 2276.