Deborah Byrd in

On April 19, 2020, many in western Europe were stunned to spot a line of satellites crossing the night sky. They were the SpaceX Starlinks satellites. We woke up this morning to many email questions from EarthSky readers in Europe, who saw a line of lights last night (April 19, 2020), trailing each other across the sky. Some on Twitter compared them to a string of Christmas lights, although they were all one color, and they moved.

You don’t need to find the radiant to see the meteors. But it’s fun to spot, near the bright star Vega. Lyrid meteors radiate from near the bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra. The radiant point for the Lyrid meteor shower – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate – is easy to find. The point is just to the right of beautiful blue-white star Vega, which is the brightest light in the constellation Lyra the Harp.

This video comes from John Ashley in Montana, one of our favorite sky photographers. It’s in celebration of International Dark Sky Week, April 19-26, 2020 and features musician Peter Mayer. Want more information on activities for Dark Skies Week? Click here. Want to find a dark sky, or recommend one? Try EarthSky’s Best Places for Stargazing page. Want to enjoy dark skies right now? Watch John Ashley’s beautiful video, above.