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Stargazers around the world have been turning to social media to express amazement at the Lyrid meteor shower and Elon Musk’s Starlight fleet.
The shower, an annual event April 16-25, will peak tonight, producing around 20 meteors per hour, and people have been sitting in their gardens with duvets, hot chocolate, and iPhones.
At the same time, billionaire Musk has launched a series of satellites intended to provide a global Internet service, and between the two there has been a lot to keep people looking at the skies.
Shona Moss, 42, said she and her partner pulled their six-year-old son out of bed at midnight and “in 10 seconds the most amazing meteorite I’ve ever seen drew an arc in the sky.”
James Smith said, “Man, the Lyrid meteor shower is spectacular and I’ve only been watching 10 minutes!”
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Hayley Lee / Twitter)
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While Martina said: “What a magical sky tonight! There are many!”
“But I’m still waiting for that gorgeous, shinier, more beautiful Meteor like the one I saw last night shooting directly into my head! Oh please, come on!”
Another Twitter user said, “OMG IS SO BEAUTIFUL.”
As Jamesh said around 12:20 in the morning: “I just saw an incredible meteorite over Milton Keynes! Fascinating.”
For some it was a less impressive and calmer experience.
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
Phil Sloman said: “I saw a meteorite while looking at the skies. A very calm experience with the sound of Tawny Owls in the nearby forest to accompany him.
“I’m going to bed now”.
Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, which have been observed for more than 2,700 years.
But with much of the world facing uncertainty during The coronavirus blockade seems to have become more important this year, and people appreciate both the people around them and what is happening in the sky.
Brian Hill tweeted, “Lovely time in my back garden in Belfast with my wife watching the meteor shower just below the starry plow.”
Many people noted that thanks to less air pollution, because far fewer people were commuting to work each day for the past month, the sky seemed clearer.
(Image: NASA)
(Image: NASA Meteoroid Environment Office)
Added to the meteorites were UFO lights that also ran through the night sky, but it was not a natural phenomenon: rather a constellation of thousands of satellites designed to provide low-cost broadband Internet service.
The £ 8 billion Starlink project has seen batches of satellites launched into orbit 60 at a time, with an earlier launch in late March and another tonight.
They have been seen all week in the UK due to their low Earth orbit, creating much confusion on Twitter between Starlink and the meteor shower.
A user with the @elliecov handle expressed delight in seeing a ‘meteor shower’, only to be disappointed.
“The first time I have seen a meteor shower and my inner child is satisfied that I finally got the wish for a shooting star,” he tweeted.
(Image: @ GucciGazza / Twitter)
However, later, when he realized what he had actually seen, he said: “I just found out that the meteor shower was, in fact, realigning Starlink satellites and now I am sad.”
But others were more impressed by both phenomena and the opportunity to see them together.
Twitter user Pamela said: “Sitting in the garden with my sister with our duvets and a cup of hot chocolate looking at the Starlink satellites and the Lyrid meteor shower.
“I’ve seen 10/15 satellites so far in Glasgow, amazing. I love the stars.”
As Scott Pottie wrote, “My 11 year old son and I saw them. I was very excited.”
Peter Laws added: “The children and I lay in the garden for an hour under the duvets and saw the #starlinksattelites. We saw them so clearly.”
As Han O’Connor tweeted, “Get up early tomorrow, but cheeky time more or less well spent.
“Great to see Starlink satellites, a beautiful view of Venus, and even luck to see a meteorite.”
Meteorites come from leftover particles from Comet G1 Thatcher G1, and fragments of broken asteroids.
“When comets revolve around the sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them,” NASA explained.
“Every year, Earth passes through these rubble trails, allowing parts to collide with our atmosphere, where they disintegrate to create fiery, colorful streaks in the sky.”
However, there were some people who tried as best they could, they had the bad luck of not seeing anything in the sky.
Helen McNicholas said: “Tonight’s meteor observation was a complete failure, but I could see how the resident hedgehog had a good pootle over the garden, so it was good.”
Still others remembered the meteor showers of years past.
A Twitter user said: “The best meteor shower I saw was in the late 1990s, during the wash in Norfolk.
“Thousands of meteorites rained down on our heads in about 10 minutes, of all colors too.
“Initially, we thought they were flares, but apparently not, it was incredible and an experience that I will not forget.”
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