The annual Lyrid meteor shower may have peaked overnight on Sunday and Monday, but if you missed the celestial fireworks show don’t fret. NASA’s got you covered.

Scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala., will broadcast live images of the Lyrid meteor shower Monday night and early Tuesday (April 22 and 23) for stargazers stuck with bad weather or light-polluted night skies.

The NASA broadcast will begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 April 23) and run throughout the evening. You can watch the Lyrid meteor shower webcast on SPACE.com courtesy of NASA’s MSFC feed.

“If you’d like to catch a last look at 2013 Lyrid meteor shower, this is your chance!” MSFC officials said in an announcement today. “Although a bright moon may interfere with viewing, you should still be able to see Lyrid meteors at an anticipated rate of 10-20 meteors per hour.”

This year, the Lyrid meteor display runs from April 16 through April 26, though it peaked overnight on April 21 and 22. Because the moon is bright in the evening sky, the best time to look for the Lyrids is in the wee morning hours before dawn, after the moon has set but before the sun rises.

The Lyrid meteor shower occurs each year in mid-April when the Earth passes through a dusty lane of debris left over from Comet Thatcher, which is also known as C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The comet orbits the sun once every 415 years. The Lyrids are created when the comet’s dust streaks through Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 110,000 mph (177,027 kph).

The Lyrids get their name because they appear to radiate out of the constellation Lyra. Humans have been observing the “shooting stars” display for more than 2,600 years, NASA scientists have said.

Editor’s note: If you snap a great photo of the Lyrid meteor shower that you’d like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Image courtesy of Flickr, ikewinski

• New Horsehead Nebula Image Shows Remarkable Depth | Video
• Animals in Space: Russia’s Bion-M1 Space Capsule a Cosmic Zoo (Gallery)
• It’s Time for Next Phase in Search for Alien Life, Scientists Say
• Russia Launches Animals Into Space on One-Month Journey

This article originally published at Space.com
here

Coming up next: Contestants from around the globe duke it out to become the first humans on Mars. Their life stories are inspiring; their training is fierce, and around every corner is another dramatic love story. Which four will win the chance to settle the Red Planet? It’s up to you, Earth.

This is Mars One.

It sounds like a pitch for the next scripted network reality show, and that’s not too far from the truth. Netherlands-based company Mars One is serious about colonizing another planet, and this week it launched the application process to find the astronauts who will land on Mars on April 22, 2023.

But behind its imaginative founder and board of accomplished scientists and engineers, Mars One is a marketing company — and a good one at that.

The Mars One Show

Mars One will not create new technologies for its mission. Instead, it will rely on existing research from federal space agencies and technology from private companies. Most recently it inked a deal with Paragon to design its life-support systems. And Mars One founder Bas Lansdorp openly admits to courting SpaceX and even cites its technology in his launch plan. (For the record, SpaceX has remained mum on any type of official partnership.)

Lansdorp predicts the mission will cost $6 billion. Mars One, which maintains that it’s a non-profit entity, won’t rely on federal funding for support. Its business plan hinges on advertising. It will televise the 10-year process — from astronaut selection and training, to launch, landing and Martian living.

“[Six billion] sounds like a lot — and it is a lot — but imagine what will happen when the first people land on Mars. Literally every person on the globe will want to see it,” Lansdorp said in Mars One’s first press conference on Monday.

Lansdorp founded Mars One after seeing Olympic Games revenues. “Four billion dollars for four weeks, just because the world is watching,” he said. (Editor’s Note: Figures for last summer’s Games are not yet available, but the International Olympic Committee pulled in $851 million in broadcast revenue in 2008.)

“[In 10 years], 4 billion people will have an Internet connection, and it will be the largest audience ever, far larger than the Olympic Games,” Lansdorp said.

While it may sound far-fetched, Lansdorp has a point.