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(meteorobs) Lyrid data LANMA + MISKO 22/23 april




[Message from Marco Langbroek]

Hello everybody,

Below the Lyrid data of the night 22/23  April 1998 of Koen Miskotte and me.

After 2.5 months with (except 2 nights in March) extremely bad weather, the
Lyrid maximum night has been clear in our country!

At Biddinghuizen, we had a nice clear and dark sky, with Lm up to +6.7,
during the whole of the night. Only during the last hour or so, the
advancing front signalling the return to instable weather for coming days
became visible as a low bank of cirrus in the south-southeast (below 10-15
degrees). So we have been very lucky with the weather we can say. At this
moment (late afternoon) it is....raining!

Activity was good. Nice meteor rates, nice meteors. The brightest lyrid we
have seen was of -2/-3 calibre. Some activity of mu Virginids and alpha
Bootids too. Some nice Lyrids seen before we started observations, while
still putting up our equipment. In general, it all complied well with an
expected maximum early in the night (20h UT according to the DMS curve).
The data of both Koen and me result in a ZHR of 14 +/- 2  for our
observational interval (roughly 21:30-2:45 UT), which is indeed what it
should be for this solar longitude.

In morning twilight, we were able to observe the close conjunction between
venus, jupiter and the moon. As the small lunar sickle rose near 5:30 local
time, venus became visisble close to it. after some time, we could also
discern jupiter. A very fine conjunction indeed!

Robert Haas first employed his finished portable camera array. This is a
true marvel of engeneering: it comes as a  compact flight case easy to
stuff away in your car trunk, and then you only have to release two clamps,
take out the electro-motor of the rotating shutter and put it in the
correct space in the setup, srew the shutter blade to it, turn a switch and
there it runs!!!! 1-2 minutes at best from the moment you take it from your
car-trunk. Ingenious, and very handsome to see too! This will be very good
for 'crash-campaigns'.

Koen had brought some delicious croissants with chocolate and cream with
him. But I am still not sure what Casper did with the coffee: after I had
taken some, I  developed a terrible hickup for a full hour (you should hear
the tape: "Ly -hick- rid, magni -hick- tude +3 -hick!", for over a full
hour!). And no, we will not make comments in public about Casper's
headdress...

As it seems, this campaign also meant a 'goodbye' to Biddinghuizen. Most
likely, this was our last campaign from this fine location. The family
Appel has decided to stop their farm and to retire. This includes moving to
another home. We are very sorry to loose the spot that is so excellent for
observing, and to which so much precious moments are attached for us.....
Luckily, the Appel family does not move far from the current location. They
found a new home some 7 km west of the farm. That is a location that must
be as good in sky conditions and absence of light pollution as the current
location. And Mr. and Mrs. Appel made very clear to us that they would like
to see us joining them again at their new home! Since their new home has
some 7 acre property surrounding it, there must be enough space for our team.

Cheers!       :-)

-Marco Langbroek
 Dutch meteor Society

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - 

Date: April 22/23, 1998
Location: Biddinghuizen, the Netherlands, 52d 29'N, 5d 41' E

Observer: Marco Langbroek           (LANMA)

UT                   Teff     Lm    Lyr   mVir    aBoo    Spo        ZHR
 +-
21:26-22:28    0.90    6.6       5        0        0           8
10       5
22:28-23:42    1.13    6.7      19       3        3           8
20       5
23:42-00:50    1.02    6.7      12       4        1          11
11       3
00:50-02:07    1.28    6.7      25       3        0          12
14       3
02:07-02:45    0.64    6.3      10       1        1            2
15       5

TOTAL            4.97   <6.7>  71      11        5         47
<14 +- 2>
134 meteors in total

                       -2    -1    0    1    2    3    4    5    6     <m>
Lyrids               1     1    5    4   11  13  20  10   6      3.2
Sporadics                      1    3    2   11  18  9    3      3.7
mu Vir                                  1    2    3    3    2           3.3
alfa Boo                                            2    3                3.6


Observer: Koen Miskotte       (MISKO)

UT                  Teff    Lm       Lyr       Vir       aBoo      Spo
   ZHR      +-
21:20-22:25   1.07   6.55        4          0           2           8
       9          5
22:25-23:27   1.03   6.50       12         3           0           7
     20         6
23:27-00:30   0.93   6.50        9          1           1          18
     13         4
00:30-01:35   1.08   6.40       10         1           0          12
    14         3
01:35-02:37   1.03   6.23       12         1           0          13
    15         5

TOTAL           5.15  <6.5>     47         6           3           58
      <14 +- 2>
114 meteors in total


                      -2    -1    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    <m>
Lyrids             1      1    1    4    8   12  14   5    1     3.0
Virginids                             1    0    0    2    3     0    3.8
alfa Boo                                    2    1    0    0    0     2.3
Sporadics                           2    3   10  26  16   1     3.9

Leonids-'98? A once (twice?) in your lifetime appearance! You can't afford
to miss it!

Casper ter Kuile, Akker 145, NL-3732 XD, De Bilt, The Netherlands
Phone: +31-30-2203170;  Fax: +31-30-2202695;  GSM: +31-6-54723974
E-mail1: pegasoft@cc.ruudot nl;  E-mail2: casper.ter.kuile@rivmdot nl; UIN: 3462901
WWW: http://www.pidot net/~terkuile/meteors/dms.htm