“Rain” of falling stars on Good Friday – Their “tails” are visible for several seconds

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The Lyridesthe first significant rain from “Shooting stars” in the spring, will peak this year in the sky of the northern hemisphere, where Greece also belongson the night of Good Friday, April 22, at dawn on Holy Saturday.

The lyrides are considered an average “rain” that usually lasts from 16 to 25 April. At their peak, it is estimated that they enter the Earth’s atmosphere and glow up to 20 meteors per hour at speeds of up to 50 kilometers. Sometimes create bright falling stars with long tails that remain visible anywhere in the sky for several seconds. In some years, their “falling stars” even reached 100 per hour.

This particular rain of diatons, which was recorded for the first time in 687 BC by the Chinese, apparently comes from Lyra constellation, from where it got its name, and especially from him star Vega (Alpha Lyra), which is the brightest star in this constellation and the second brightest star in the night sky of the northern hemisphere.

But the real source is comet C / 1861 G1 “Thatcher”, which was discovered in 1861 by the American A. Thatcher. The comet leaves in its path a long tail of dust and particles, which intersects every year with the orbit of our planet. The comet will once again pass very close to Earth in 2276, as its orbit around the Sun lasts about 415 years.

The remnants of the comet’s tail, after its last close passage in the 19th century, still hover in space and continue to cause the “rain” of the Lyrids every year.

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