How to watch the Earth Day meteor shower

With Earth Day just a few days away on Sunday, April 22nd, the sky is getting ready to celebrate — no really. There’s a meteor shower on Earth Day, and we can’t think of a better way to pay tribute to our planet than that. If you want to catch it, don’t worry. The Earth Day meteor shower should be pretty easy to see, right from your backyard.

According to Accuweather, the Lyrid meteor shower is the most significant one we’ve had since January, and it’ll make its appearance late Saturday night going into Sunday. The site’s astronomy blogger, Dave Samuhel, said that the meteor shower will be best viewed after midnight, and that you should lay back outside, where you have a big chunk of sky before you, and wait to see the streaks, which should be visible to the naked eye.

What’s really exciting: while you watch the Earth Day meteor shower, you may even be able to see a few fireballs, which sounds badass AF. Nature is killing it this weekend, y’all.

Samuhel added that you’ll want to view the shower in a place with low light pollution if possible, which means the darkest area you can access. You may also be able to see some of the shower on Friday and Sunday nights, before and after the big event.

Later in the night, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn may be seen by anyone watching the shower — especially if you’re in the southeast U.S. It sounds like it’s going to be quite a show, so make your plans now — you’re not going to want to miss this.

Seeing the solar system, fireballs, and meteors? What more could you ask for on Earth Day? The Earth Day meteor shower is the perfect reminder of how awesome this little planet we call home really is, just in time to celebrate.