The Lyrid Meteor Shower is set to light up the skies this April, with up to 18 shooting stars visible every hour.

The shower will be active from April 16 to 25 and will produce its peak rate of meteors on April 22, with the best displays before dawn and after dusk on that day.

It gets its name as the shooting stars appear to originate from the constellation of Lyra.

Meteors are small chunks of debris, left behind in the wake of comets and asteroids, and when the earth passes through this it scoops up a number of the pieces and they then fall into the atmosphere.

These objects then burn up and appear as shooting stars in the sky.

Norwich Evening News: The peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower will be on April 22 2021.The peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower will be on April 22 2021. (Image: GettyImages/iStockphoto)

At its peak, the shower is expected to produce around 18 meteors per hour, but how many you can see is impacted by factors including time of night and background light.

Also, April 22 is four days away from a full moon which will result in stray light.

The shower will be visible to the naked eye so there is no need for any equipment, just let your eyes adjust to the dark and look out for fast and bright meteors with fine trains.