The Lyra meteor shower is also called the April Lyra meteor shower. It is one of the oldest meteor showers in human observation history. The earliest observation record has been more than 2,600 years ago.
In this April, the Lyra meteor shower will meet us again.
The reporter learned today from the Science Department of the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that in the coming April, wonderful astronomical phenomena should not be missed.
Binary stars with moon (Jupiter and Saturn)
According to Hu Fanghao, an engineer from the Science Department of Zitai, Saturn will conjunct the moon at 16:00 on April 6, and Jupiter will conjunct the moon at 15:00 on April 7, and the moon can be seen before sunrise on April 6, 7 and 8. Traveling to the vicinity of Jupiter and Saturn, the astronomical phenomenon of double stars and moon appears.
Especially on April 7, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon formed a "smiley face" in the sky.
Take the Nanjing area as an example. Jupiter will rise at 3:23 on April 7, and the Sun will rise at 5:46. You can watch for a longer time.
On April 17, the moon occludes Mars (Mars conjoins the moon)
Hu Fanghao told reporters that the apparent diameter of the moon is about 0.5°, and when the apparent distance from the sun’s body to the moon is less than 0.25°, the moon occludes.
On April 17, the closest point from Mars to the moon is 0.13°, and the moon will occlude Mars.
Similar to a solar eclipse, only the area on the eclipse zone can see the moon occulting Mars, and other places can only see the celestial phenomenon of Mars conjoining the moon.
Hu Fanghao reminded that southern Yunnan Province (such as Pu'er City, Jinghong City, etc.) and most parts of Hainan Province (such as Sanya City, Danzhou City, etc.) are located in the eclipse zone. You can see the moon occludes Mars, and Mars will be there. It is completely obscured by the moon.
Lyra meteor shower
"In history, there have been large-scale outbursts of the Lyra meteor shower. For example, it reached 90 per hour in 1982, but it has fallen into silence in recent years. In most years, its ZHR (zenith rate per hour) has been between 14 and 23. Wandering between.” Hu Fanghao introduced that the 2021 event period is from April 14th to April 30th. The maximum period is predicted to occur at night from April 22nd to 23rd, and the ZHR during the maximum period is 18.
Taking Nanjing as an example, the radiant point of the Lyrae meteor shower rose from the horizon at 8:22 pm on the 22nd.
The bright gibbous moon that day will have a greater impact on viewing the meteor shower.
Reporter Yao Xueqing