(meteorobs) 22 April (UT) Observation from southern Maryland

[Paul Jones]

Rich and all,
     I had pretty much the same experience as you did for the Lyrids on
Friday night/Saturday morning.  They really did pull a disappearing act!  I
started in at 11:00 p.m. EDT and had three lyrids in the first thirty
minutes, but then after 11:30, I saw only two more for the next hour until
12:30 a.m. EDT.  The whole sky just dried up, after a promising start
indeed.  I ended up quitting before moonrise even.  What a disappointment.
I reckon we were unfortunate enough to catch the very end of the Lyrid
"power curve" on the U. S. east coast this year and saw only a couple of the
meager leftovers, followed by... nothing!  It was the exact opposite of the
experience I had with them for the 1982 outburst.
That year, I saw them "turn on" and go wild for a couple of hours, this year
I saw that same faucet abruptly turned off.  Although not nearly as exciting
this year, it was still interesting to see their vanishing act.
More precise data on my two Lyrid sessions will follow.

On to the eta Aquariids!  Paul in St. Augustine

On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 9:27 AM, Richard Taibi <rjtaibi at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> I began my observation session, at Bel Alton, before moonrise on 22 April
> (UT) but  I continued to watch for Lyrids after moonrise at 4:13 UT.  I saw
> three faint (+3, +4, and +5 magnitude) sporadic meteors by 4:25 UT.
>  Unfortunately, I didn't see another one after that time.  Even though the
> LYR radiant had attained 50 degrees elevation when I quit at 6:00 UT, I saw
> no Lyrids during the entire 2 hour and 40 minute session.  In my field
> center, at the end of the 'Big Dipper's handle, the limiting magnitude was
> +5 before and after moonrise.  There were no clouds during the session which
> was from 3:20 to 6:00 UT.
>
> Best wishes,
> Rich
>
>
>
>
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