If you're the kind of person who loves scanning the skies to see what's going on out there, or perhaps you've just got nothing else on right now, there's going to be a show for the next couple of nights as the Lyrid meteor shower is going to be putting on a performance

The meteor shower is expected to start doing it's stuff from Sunday through to the early Wednesday morning, the peak of the action is expected to be on Tuesday night.

The Lyrid meteor shower is an annual event, and is made up from debris from a comet called Thatcher.

Credit: PA

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The Lyrid shower is created as falling debris from the aforementioned comet as it burns up in Earth's atmosphere.

You'll have to stay up a bit late if you're actually going to catch any of the magic, though. The best time to watch it - according to astronomers - is between midnight and dawn.

Obviously, it goes without saying that you'll need to be under clear skies, and preferably somewhere with less light pollution in order to see the sky as clearly as possible.

To have the best chance of enjoying the show to the fullest, you should head outside and look to the east.

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For those who are a bit better versed in our celestial furniture, the radiant point of the shower is near to the constellation Lyra.

Bill Cooke, a meteor expert from NASA, told Space.com that if you want to catch the end of it on Wednesday, the optimum time for that is going to be just before dawn, but at about 10:30PM local time you'll start seeing those trademark flashes across the night sky.

In previous years, there have been 'outbursts' of as many as 100 meteors per hour. That would be quite something, wouldn't it?

It's quite a rare phenomenon, but there's a chance.

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Credit: PA

Luckily for those in the UK and the USA, the Northern Hemisphere is where the Lyrid shower is going to be most visible.

NASA advice suggests that you come 'prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair'.

"Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible."

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After about half an hour in the pitch black, your eyes will 'adapt and you will begin to see meteors'.