(meteorobs) Lyrid session 20 April (UT) from Southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

Weather prediction for my area on the mornings of the 21st and 22nd were for clouds, so I watched on the morning of 20 April UT (also Eastern Daylight Time).  The sky was banded by streaks of very thin cirrus that moved lazily from north to south.  I treated their presence as a reduction of total LM because I could see +4.5 magnitude stars through them as they swept across the sky.  They were not so opaque as to be field obstructions.  The Lm notation below reflects the clouds' deterioration of the sky.

 

I saw only one Lyrid during the observation interval but saw a second one after I began to leave the site: Murphy's Law.  

 

Site: Bel Alton, Maryland, USA (76d 59m W Long; 38d 28m N Lat., elevation about 10 meters).

 

20 April 2010, 7:13 - 8:45 UT, Teff= 1.43 hours, F=1.00, Lm= 5.42.  Field of view was to the East at about 60 degrees of elevation.

 

LYR: +2 (1)

 

SPO: -2, +2, +3 and +4.  Total of 4.

 

Good luck to observers for the Lyrid maximum on the 22nd!

 

Rich Taibi