How to watch 2024 Lyrid meteor shower in Seattle

SEATTLE - Next week, Seattleites will get a break from the cloud cover and be able to witness an amazing celestial event.

The Lyrid meteor shower comes every year and peaks in late April, according to NASA, and is one of the oldest-known meteor showers observed in human history. Our ancestors have observed the Lyrids for 2,700 years, and its first recorded sighting was during the Zhou dynasty in China around 687 BCE.

This year, the peak is expected overnight between April 21–22, on Sunday night.

The catch? You’ll need to get out of the city to make the most of your stargazing. If you head into Snoqualmie Pass and its nearby mountaintops, you can get past both the city’s light pollution and the region’s cloud cover. You can also consult this light pollution map from DarkSiteFinder.

Data from EarthSky also shows there will be a full moon the night of April 23, which may brighten the sky and make it trickier to catch the showers.

NASA says you should bring a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair, lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look straight up. After 30 minutes, your vision will adapt to the dark and you’ll be able to see some meteors.

According to Space.com, you can expect to see 15 to 20 meteors every hour, but some years the Lyrids will experience an "outburst," which produces up to 100 meteors per hour.