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(meteorobs) Lyrid Observations April 21/22-00

     My first impulse upon arriving home this morning was to just ignore what little data
I did accrue and record over my tape at the first opportunity.  Clouds became a nuisance to a large degree last night and there was a remarkable lack of  meteor activity, even given the washed out moonlit sky.  But realizing I did have two clear periods and LM's that (barely)
made it just over 5.0, I decided perhaps the observation was worth using anyway.
   The best of the Lyrids must have ended by the time the radiant rose over North America as I saw only 5 Lyrids in 2.25 hours of Teff, and just 5 sporadics.  The second period had Hercules quite high in the sky and I was expecting at least 5 or six Lyrids to appear, but on two showed that hour.  Even with the poor LM's that was quite unexpected.  The first period
saw only 3 Lyrids.
   Clouds rolled in at around 6:20 UT, and pretty much ruined the view, so I wound up making period one a bit longer than usual.  I took a ten minute break, and things cleared out nicely.  By  6:30 UT I was observing again, but at 7:40, just into my planned third period, the clouds rolled in and completely covered the sky.  Ten minutes later, it was clear again.  I thought I might actually get to observe with the radiant now nicely placed in the sky, but within another ten minutes the sky was once again filled with puffy clouds.  I gave up and drove home at 4:00 local time.
    I used the counting method for this observation.  I faced just a few degrees east of north.
***********************************************************
OBSERVER:  Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)  DATE:04-21/22-00
BEGIN: 05:01UT  END 07:30UT  LOCATION:  Treutlen Co, Ga.
82. 24' 25" W;  32. 24' 45" N   METHOD: Tape
Elev 240 ft  Facing North
2 periods, sky 0% obscured, 1 break

Period 1  05:01 - 06:18 UT  (c)SPO(3) (c)LYR(3)
Dead time = 2 min Teff = 1.25 F= 1.0
Avg LM = 5.23

Period 2  06:28 - 07:30 UT  (c)SPO(2) (c)LYR(2)
Dead time =2 min  Teff = 1.0  F= 1.00
Avg LM = 5.03

Limiting Magnitudes
05:15 UT  (IMO 16)+5.15  (IMO 9)+5.42
05:45 UT  (IMO 16)+5.15  (IMO 11)+5.28
06:15 UT  (IMO 16)+5.15  (IMO 11)+5.28
06:45 UT  (IMO 16)+5.15  (IMO 1)+5.00
07:15 UT  (IMO 16)+5.15  (IMO 1)+4.83

Center FOV - Midperiod (UT)
Period 1 15hrs +55
Period 2 16hrs +58

Showers Observed
LYR(5)  18hr 04min +34
SPO(5)

Mag Distribution
Period 1
SPO(3)              +1(1)       +3(1) +4(1)
LYR(3)              +1(1)       +3(1) +4(1)

Period 2
SPO(2)                          +3(1) +4(1)
LYR(2)                   +2(1)  +3(1)
 

Meteor Data

Period 1
(Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed
01  05:04   LYR   +3      3
02  05:21   SPO   +3      2
03  05:40   SPO   +1      4  .5 sec wake
04  06:04   LYR   +1      3
05  06:09   LYR   +4      3
06  06:14   SPO   +4      5

Period 2
(Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed
07  06:29   SPO   +3      4
08  06:44   SPO   +4      2
09  06:57   LYR   +3      3
10  07:21   LYR   +2      3   yellow