The Lyrids meteor shower reaches its peak. Here's how to enjoy it with Bright Moon: NPR

Leonid's fireball is visible during a 1966 storm in the sky above Wrightwood, California.

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Leonid's fireball is visible during a 1966 storm in the sky above Wrightwood, California.

NASA/Getty Images

Stargazers can prepare to witness one of the oldest known meteor showers soon, they'll only need to find some darkness from the nearly full moon.

The Lyrid meteor shower will remain active until April 29, and is expected to reach its peak overnight from Sunday to Monday, according to American Meteor Society. The group says it is best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere.

Views will change throughout the night as the constellation Lyra, from which the shower radiates and gets its name, moves across the sky. Lyra hangs high at dawn, so this will be the best time to view AMS He says.

The nearly full moon over the weekend will make it harder to see the meteor shower, but viewers will still be able to see some, and it always helps to make the sky you're looking at as dark as possible. Astronomy website EarthSky advises Avoid city lights as you would for most stargazing, but she also suggests finding a place where the moon can be obscured from view, such as the shadows of a mountain or under trees.

Meteorite watchers should prepare to stay warm and lie down. NASA recommends Lie with your feet facing east, and allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness for 30 minutes. Photography enthusiasts will need a slower shutter speed, higher ISO sensitivity, and a stable tripod to take pictures of meteors.

While we're unlikely to see bright trains of Lyridian moons traveling through Earth's atmosphere, we can watch out for bright flashes called fireballs, according to NASA.

Fireballs are brighter than Venus. NASA has set up more than a dozen cameras across the country to record them. an agency He says The data helps them better understand objects floating in space near Earth and is important for spacecraft designers.

The first recorded sighting of a harpsichord came from the Chinese people over 2,700 years ago. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris left behind by comets and asteroids as they approach the Sun. Lyrids come from the trail Comet C/1861 G1 ThatcherDiscovered by amateur astronomer A.E. Thatcher in 1861.

While Earth passes through the comet's path every year, Comet Thatcher takes more than 400 years to orbit the Sun. The last time it reached the closest point to the sun was in the year of its discovery.

Earth's next meteor shower is the Eta Aquariids which are best seen from the southern tropics in early May, according to the AMS. The next thing people in North America can see is Alpha Capricornids at the end of July. The moon will be darker then.