Lyrids Meteor Shower vs. the 'Pink Moon': Peak Dates

April’s famous “Pink Moon" and the Lyrids Meteor Shower both will show up in the night sky — but this will actually be a major celestial bummer. They're likely to cancel each other out.

Let's talk about that Pink Moon first. It's set to bloom this week, but will it really be pink?

Well, no, it won’t, according to fullmoonphases.com. The name comes from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first widespread flowers of the spring.

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Earthsky.org says interference from the full moon could make the meteor shower a bust.

That's too bad, too. Although the Lyrids don’t produce a lot of meteors — typically, around 10 to 15 on a moonless night — they are known for uncommon, difficult-to-predict surges that sometimes bring up to 100 meteors per hour.

This meteor shower also is usually a crowd-pleaser because the Lyrids tend to be bright and often leave trails, which may be enough to overcome the drenching moonlight during the peak, April 22.

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Chicago-Area Night Weather

• Thursday: Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then a slight chance of showers after midnight. Lows in the mid 40s. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.
• Friday: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.
• Saturday: Clear in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s.

— by Patch Staffers Beth Dalbey and Jason Koestenblatt

Image credit: Nike Lewinski via Flickr / Creative Commons