{"id":911981,"date":"2026-04-22T22:23:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/911981\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:23:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:23:57","slug":"lyrid-meteor-shower-in-northern-ireland-how-to-see-shooting-stars-as-they-reach-peak-visibility-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/911981\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyrid meteor shower in Northern Ireland: How to see shooting stars as they reach peak visibility \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shooting stars<\/a> are expected to be visible across parts of Northern Ireland on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

The Lyrid meteor shower, which takes place every April, has been active since April 16 but is due to reach its peak on April 22. <\/p>\n

Clear skies in the early hours of the morning should provide ideal viewing opportunities<\/a> for those who are willing to stay up late or rise early enough to catch a glimpse. <\/p>\n

Read more:<\/b> 2,000 homes in Northern Ireland left without power after Storm Dave strong winds<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tricolours<\/a>\"Armagh<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know. <\/p>\n

\"ACloud will impact visibility in Northern Ireland during the first view hours of the night PICTURE: BEN BIRCHALL\/PA When will the meteor showers be visible in Northern Ireland?<\/p>\n

The Lyrid meteor shower was first recorded around 3,000 years ago and occurs every April. <\/p>\n

The streaks of white light across the sky are a result of dust from Comet Thatcher reacting with the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The shooting stars are due to reach their peak activity on the night of April 22. <\/p>\n

The streaks of light should start to become visible as soon as it gets dark, however cloud cover will hinder viewing opportunities in the early parts of the night for most people across the north. <\/p>\n

According to the current Met Office forecast<\/a>, cloud coverage at 10pm will block most of the north from viewing the shooting stars. <\/p>\n

\"OrbexThe darkest parts of the night sky will provide the best opportunity for spotting meteors PICTURE: BEN BIRCHALL\/PA <\/p>\n

Prime time for visibility is typically around 2am to 3am, with clouds expected to begin to clear around this time over parts of the Ards peninsula. <\/p>\n

The skies over Belfast and parts of Fermanagh should begin to clear by 3am, with much larger parts of the north in with a chance of spotting the meteor displays by 4am. This includes parts of Co Derry, Co Tyrone and the north coast.<\/p>\n

Visibility is expected to continue to improve into the early hours of the morning. <\/p>\n

The meteors should continue to be visible until sunrise at around 6am.<\/p>\n

How long does it last? <\/p>\n

The showers will continue throughout the night, however each individual burst of light in the sky typically lasts for a few seconds. <\/p>\n

If you intend to stay out on Wednesday to try spot any of the Lyrids, it\u2019s recommended that you wait for around 30 minutes to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness. <\/p>\n

Where is best to view them from?<\/p>\n

Locations which are free from light pollution are best suited for spotting meteors. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s recommended that you focus on the darkest parts of the sky to be in with the best chance. <\/p>\n

The good news is that the moon\u2019s brightness shouldn\u2019t impact visibility on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

The light from a full moon can obscure some of the less bright meteors from view. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shooting stars are expected to be visible across parts of Northern Ireland on Wednesday night. The Lyrid meteor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1142,15704,1144,16,15],"class_list":["post-911981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-met-office","tag-meteor-shower","tag-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116450706726972796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}