Meteor shower to light up Vietnamese skies this weekend

By Pham Huong   April 21, 2017 | 01:08 am PT
Stargazers will simply have to look up at the night sky to enjoy the show.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower which returns every April will peak this weekend with a perfect light show over Vietnam.

Stargazers will be able to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour, according to astronomy sites.

Dang Vu Tuan Son, chairman of the Vietnam Amateur Club of Astronomy, said the best time to view the shower from Vietnam will be in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday.

“These meteors usually lack persistent trains but can produce fireballs,” the American Meteor Society said. Fireballs are meteors that become extremely bright as they burn up entering the Earth’s atmosphere and can light up the sky for a few seconds.

AccuWeather said that this will be an excellent year for viewing the Lyrids as the peak falls just a few days before the new moon and light from the moon will not interfere much with viewing conditions.

As the meteors will streak away from the original point and appear in all areas of the sky, onlookers just need to look up at the open sky without having to focus on a single point, it said.

No special visual devices will be needed.

 
 
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