Celebrate Earth Day and the Lyrid Meteor Shower with Slooh

Lyrid meteor shower
The Slooh community observatory will host live views of the Lyrid meteor shower on April 21 and a webcast celebration of Earth Day on April 22. (Image credit: Slooh.com)

If you can't get outside to see the Lyrid meteor shower tonight (April 21), tune in to Slooh.com beginning at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) for a live webcast featuring views of the night sky and commentary from Slooh astronomers. The meteor shower peaks early Saturday morning (April 22) and will be visible for a few days after that.

The community observatory will also be celebrating Earth Day bright and early on Saturday, with a webcast beginning at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). You can watch the Earth Day webcast live via Slooh.com

During the webcast, members of the public will share the things they'd miss most about Earth if they had to go to space, while two astronauts will name the things they did miss during their journeys to space. [Grab Piece of the Planet with NASA's Earth Day Adoption]

Earth Day with Slooh

The Earth Day webcast, which you can also watch here at Space.com courtesy of Slooh. will feature interviews with NASA astronauts and a sci-fi movie-production designer who was nominated for an Oscar, along with live views of the Earth from space and from the ground.  

"Over the last month, people from all over the world have sent in videos to Slooh answering one very important question: What would they would miss about our planet if they were to go into space?" Slooh representatives said in a statement. "During the live show, Slooh will share a compilation of the best submissions and will explore what about the Earth inspires those who reach for the stars." 

NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Stan Love will discuss what they missed most about the planet during their journeys to space, as well as "how their unique perspective deepened their appreciation of the planet, and what they will be doing to honor Earth this Earth Day," according to the statement.

Guy Hendrix Dyas, the Academy-award nominated production designer for the science fiction movie "Passengers" will discuss his time working on the movie and "why the concept of leaving Earth is so popular in science fiction," according to Slooh. The webcast is sponsored by "the digital release of Sony Pictures' 'Passengers.'"

"The show will be anchored by live views of the Earth from space and with live feeds of various beautiful vistas around the world from Slooh's observatory in the Canary Islands, as well as cameras around the globe," according to the statement. 

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Calla Cofield
Senior Writer

Calla Cofield joined Space.com's crew in October 2014. She enjoys writing about black holes, exploding stars, ripples in space-time, science in comic books, and all the mysteries of the cosmos. Prior to joining Space.com Calla worked as a freelance writer, with her work appearing in APS News, Symmetry magazine, Scientific American, Nature News, Physics World, and others. From 2010 to 2014 she was a producer for The Physics Central Podcast. Previously, Calla worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (hands down the best office building ever) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Calla studied physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is originally from Sandy, Utah. In 2018, Calla left Space.com to join NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory media team where she oversees astronomy, physics, exoplanets and the Cold Atom Lab mission. She has been underground at three of the largest particle accelerators in the world and would really like to know what the heck dark matter is. Contact Calla via: E-Mail – Twitter