(meteorobs) Memorable Lyrids

In the spring of 1968, I pulled together a team of fellow Astronomy majors at my college. We set up 7 SLR's (most were less than a year old) to capture the Lyrids. One fellow had just purchased and Nikon F1. There were the usual good natured 'name brand jealousies' amongst the Canon, Minolta etc. owners. My roommate had constructed a 'flash cube bomb' using a small battery and Kodak flash cube and an analog watch. During one of the breaks, when we advanced out film to the next frame. The cube was set in the grass under the tripod of the Nikon. (Of course everyone was in on the gag except the owner.) About 5 minutes into the exposure the entire sky lights up. Everybody voices surprise - "Damn Freddy! What happened to your camera! Looks like your electronics shorted out." Freddy levitates out of his chair and rushes to the camera to check it out only to be greeted by the sound of muffled laughter.