This Sunday is Earth Day but a celestial attraction at may steal the show.
The Lyrid meteor shower will peak Saturday, NASA says online, and luckily for residents of southeast Michigan, National Weather Service meteorologist Sara Pampreen says the skies will clear out after midnight tonight and throughout the weekend.
Most of Michigan will have good visibility of the meteor shower from Saturday dusk to Sunday dawn, according to an AccuWeather map.
April 22 is the common date for peak viewing, and when the Lyrid is at its peak, the average hourly rate of meteors you can see from a dark site is 15 to 20, according to information on the weather service's website.
The Lyrids, part of the comet Thatcher, are one of the oldest meteor showers and have been observed for 2,700 years, with the first recorded sighting by the Chinese in 687 B.C., according to NASA's website.
The Lyrids, NASA says, are not as "fast or as plentiful" as the Perseids, which peak in August, but can surprise viewers with as many 100 meteors per hour.
The best place and time to view the meteor shower is the Northern Hemisphere during the dark hours, after moonset and before dawn, according to NASA. Viewers should lie on their backs with their feet facing east, the agency said.
"After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors," NASA said in an online post.
Back in January, a meteor estimated to be two-yards in diameter exploded in the sky above southeast Michigan and caused a 2.0 magnitude earthquake. The Detroit area on Thursday night was shaken by a 3.6 magnitude quake that was centered about 20 miles from downtown Detroit in Amherstburg, Ontario.
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