(meteorobs) Early Lyrids from Alberta

[bmccurdy at telusplanet.net]

   Finally getting around to report on a fabulous night of observing on April 
15/16, starting with a four-hour volunteer shift at the Telus World of Science 
Public Observatory inside Edmonton, followed by a trip to our dark site at the 
Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve for another few hours under a truly dark sky. 

   Had a serendipitous moment upon entering BHDSP which probably won't 
translate well to mere words but I'll try anyway. On the drive in I was 
listening (at rather high power) to the new Evanescence CD that my son had 
loaned me, which includes an interesting remake of the beautiful Lacrimosa 
(“Tearful”) movement of Mozart's Requiem, reputedly the last piece he ever 
wrote and long a personal favourite. With impeccable timing, at the very 
moment I stepped out of the car to dark adapt before the final approach to the 
parking lot, a full choir burst into the main theme. The great musical genius' 
parting gift to humanity was a fitting accompaniment to the splendour of a 
truly dark sky. The stars seemed to be frozen teardrops, sending shivers up my 
spine that lingered for the rest of a very beautiful night.   

   As I continue to grow ever more serious about meteor observing I have 
decided to do an hour-long count any time I am under a dark sky, whether there 
are any significant showers in progress or not. So after a couple of hours 
of "parasitic observing" through the scopes of other RASC members, I settled 
into my chair under the wide-open sky. It seemed ironic that my nearest 
neighbours were observing galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the 
Universe, while I was watching for interplanetary sand grains. What are ~50 
orders of magnitude between friends?

   Observer: Bruce McCurdy  MCCBR
   Location: Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve 
             112 deg.46'48" W, 53 deg.32'12" N
   Date: 2007-04-16
   Interval: 0800-0900 UT
   Limiting magnitude: 6.2

0800  start
0803  LYR  +4   "skipper", variable magnitude, brief wake
0814  LYR  +3   
0818  SPO  +5
0827  SPO  -3   bronze, brief wake, no train
0848  ANT  +3
0851  SPO  0
0852  LYR  +1   tawny, brief wake
0858  SPO  +3   entire meteor was seen in Lyra, but wasn’t a Lyrid!
0900  end

3 LYR: +1(1), +3(1), +4(1)
1 ANT: +3(1)
4 SPO: -3(1), 0(1), +3(1), +5(1)

   The temptation was strong to keep going, but with their own impeccable 
timing the clouds rolling in from the west had just started to encroach, so I 
called it quits after that one rewarding hour.  By the time I returned to the 
city the sky was completely socked in.

   Bruce
   *****