Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:46. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 2:21 tomorrow morning.

The second major meteor shower this year will reach its peak tomorrow afternoon around 3 PM (~19h UT). The best time to see it will be tomorrow morning after moonset at 2:21 AM. Astronomical twilight will begin to interfere after 5 AM. The other is tomorrow night starting 45 minutes later. The meteor shower is called the Lyrids, because they seem to come from near the constellation Lyra the harp and the bright star Vega. By 3 AM Vega will be high in the east. The radiant of the meteors is to the west of Vega, between Lyra and the dim constellation of Hercules. Though a major shower, the peak hourly rate is expected to be about 20 meteors an hour.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum