Lyrid Meteor Shower Combines With Aurora Australis and Lightning Sprites

A Lyrid meteor shower reached its peak on Saturday, April 22, just as lightning sprites and the Aurora Australis dazzled those watching the night’s sky from Kiama, New South Wales.David Finlay captured the display from the coastal town. The annual Lyrid meteor shower produces between 15 to 20 meteors per hour during its peak.Finlay joked that the Lyrid shower had been “photobombed” by the electrical storm and Aurora Australis, a radiant excitation of atoms created when plasma are ejected by the Sun.The Lyrids typically last for about 10 days, from April 16 each year, and are produced as the Earth passes through the dusty trail of Comet Thatcher. Credit: David Finlay via Storyful