An annual meteor shower visible mainly in the early morning darkness may be washed out tonight.

The Lyrids meteor shower, so named because of the apparent source of the meteors, comes every year at this time, as Earth flies through the remnants of an ancient comet.

The stony debris, grains of sand, heat up as they plunge through the atmosphere and brightly burn up.

There can be several hundreds to thousands per hours, when conditions are right.

Unfortunately, a near full moon will wash out all but the brightest of the early morning display.

The meteors generally are not visible until the early morning hours, as the Earth turns and pushes our part of the globe into the "front facing" part of the orbit. That's when we run into most of the debris.

Still, it's worth getting up, on the chance that you could see many shooting stars.

With clear conditions tonight in the MOV, it's worth the gamble!