Calling all stargazers: Meteor shower peaking

An annual meteor shower is set to peak on the evening of April 21.

The Lyrid meteor shower is occurring from April 17-26. Stargazers can expect to see up to 18 meteors streak across the sky per hour during peak viewing. 

Melton Memorial Observatory on Greene Street is open to the public from 9 p.m to 11 p.m every Monday night. The peak of this shower happens to fall on a Monday.

“With the meteor shower, all you need is any place that has an open access to the sky,” said Martin Bowers of the Melton Observatory on the University of South Carolina’s campus. “You’re better off with a dark sky site. So you know, downtown Columbia is not the best place, but any place with an open sky will work.” 

A good place with open access to the sky is the on-campus observatory, especially when the roof is removed for stargazing purposes, as is often the case on Monday nights.

“The weather is good, and it’s possible, if you happen to be looking up at the right time and a bright one comes by, you might see them at the observatory,” Bowers said.

The simplest guidelines for viewing the shower require minimal effort.

“The absolutely best way to see it is with your naked eye,” said Midlands Astronomy Club President Mike Roberts. “Most people get a lawn chair or something to recline in, and they dress warmly, and then they go out there. You just kind of recline in the chair and sort of scan the entire sky. And at some point you’ll probably start seeing them.”

This means no supplies are required to enjoy this phenomenon.

“Any meteor shower is named for the constellation that it seems to emanate from,” Roberts said. “So in this case, (it’s) the constellation Lyra. … And that’s why we called it the lyrids.”

Lyra can be found by looking “to the north and to the east.” Fixing your eyes in the direction of the constellation will increase your chances of seeing more meteors. 

Both Bowers and Roberts warn against the effects of Columbia’s city lights. 

“It’s much more difficult to see them in the city because some of the fainter ones would be drowned out, so to speak, by the lights from the city,” Roberts said. “But most of the time, you can travel. A lot of times the state parks will have open viewing for us for a meteor shower. You can actually enter the state park during the night and then find a fairly dark sky. … You could just drive out into the country and find a quiet place and just watch from there.” 

If you can’t make it to the observatory Monday night and if leaving Columbia isn’t a feasible option, there are also some suggested places on campus.

“The best places are off campus, if you can make the trip. …,” said USC astronomy club member Liam Van Syckle. “But there are a couple good places I’ve found on campus that are decent for looking at the stars. For North campus, the Findlay Gardens behind the Anne Frank Center are amazing.”

These recommendations are just to have optimal conditions for seeing the stars. It doesn’t take much besides your own eyes and an open sky to enjoy the show. And of course, a good understanding of what you are watching can increase your amusement from the showers.

“A meteor that appears to be red will have a lot of iron in it,” Roberts said. “A meteor that appears to be green will have a lot of copper in it. A meteor that appears to be white will probably have a lot of, like, magnesium in it. So looking at the color of the meteors is important to your enjoyment, because you can kind of actually tell what the meteor is actually made out of when it falls from the sky.”