VENUS AND THE LYRIDS

That sounds like the name of a band, doesn't it?
I'm a fully fledged shift worker again now, (what joy?!) so, unable to sleep just yet, I thought I'd post on two night sky sights you may see about now.
The first is Venus, very very bright in the western sky at dusk. Venus is sometimes known as the morning star, or the evening star, depending on what time it 'rises'.
Its bright white surface clouds reflect about 75% of the sunlight hitting them, so when the Earth, Sun and Venus are in a nice position, (as about now) it doesn't get much brighter.
The second night sky spectacle I'll bring your attention to, is the LYRID METEOR SHOWER, which peak on the night of the 22nd April, 5 days (nights?!) away. We've had a few months off the annual meteor showers (as usual this time of year), but the Lyrids, if the conditions are right, are worth seeing.
Not a particularly 'busy' shower, peaking at around 15 meteors per hour, they are fast, consistent and worth trying to find. They all appear to radiate from a point (the "radiant") in the constellation "Lyra" (Harp).
Lyra (a small, inconspicuous constellation, bar one star *) can be found low in the northeast sky; look for a very bright star low in the N.E. This will be * VEGA, the 5th brightest star in the sky, and Vega is a star in Lyra. The meteors won't all form within Lyra, they'll just appear to all come from that part of the sky.

NB. In Greek mythology, Hermes made the Lyre, by drawing a cow gut over a tortoise shell. (Just in case you wanted to know...?!)

Let's hope for a continuation of this fine weather, so we get a few more clear nights...