posted April 16, 2007 01:26 PM              

Outbursts, when the rates of visible meteors are much higher, have been seen in a number of years including, in recent times, 1803 (when observers counted 700 meteors per hour), 1922, and 1982. In 1839, Edward Herrick, an astronomer in Connecticut, USA, found records of possible Lyrid activity in 1095, 1096 and 1122. They were also recorded in Korea in 1136 and China in 15 BCE.

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on the morning of April 22. A typical peak for the Lyrids is about 15 shooting stars an hour, or one every few minutes. Observers watching the sky from about 3am until dawn can expect to see a few dozen meteors (5 to 20 per hour). The Lyrids are a northern hemisphere shower. Sky watchers in the southern hemisphere might as well stay in bed. From Australia the shower won't get much above 30 degrees above the horizon, reducing the possible number visible by about 50 per cent.

NASA says:

Most years, observers of the Lyrids can expect to view one or two shooting stars every few minutes. That's just a trickle compared to the avalanche of shooting stars and fireballs seen by millions during the 1998 Leonids meteor shower, but the Lyrids are not always so meek. In 1982, for example, over 90 meteors per hour were seen for a brief time.

Mythology of the constellation Lyra

Older maps of the sky show a bird, especially a vulture (Vultur cadens), in this position, since in early times the constellation and its stars, were taken to resemble a '1'. As such, together with other constellations in the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius (specifically, Cygnus, and Aquila, together with Sagittarius itself), Lyra may be a significant part of the origin of the myth of the Stymphalian Birds, one of The Twelve Labors of Herakles (Hercules).

By taking into account slightly parallel lines of fainter stars in the centre of the constellation, it appears to resemble a lyre, and consequently lyra gradually shifted from being considered a vulture to being considered a lyre, for an intermediate period being considered a vulture which is holding a lyre. Associated with its identity as a lyre, Lyra was considered to be the lyre used by Orpheus, to produce music that charmed even Hades, which was placed into the stars upon his death.