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Lyrid meteor shower to peak tonight
Posted by on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 8:23 pm

Just keep looking up:

The sky will be dark and moonless for at least three hours before the first light of dawn on Sunday morning, April 22, when the annual Lyrid meteor shower is due to reach its peak. …

Within a day on either side of the maximum, about 5 to 10 Lyrids can usually be seen each hour by a single observer under good skies. At the peak, the Lyrid rate is roughly 10 to 20 per hour. …

While hardly a rich display, like the famous August Perseids or December Geminids, the April Lyrids are brilliant and appear to move fairly fast, appearing to streak through our atmosphere at 30 miles (48 km) per second. About 20 to 25 percent leave persistent trains.

In 1922, an unexpected Lyrid rate of 96 was recorded, and in 1982 rates unexpectedly reached 80 per hour, so although usually a weak display, the Lyrids have had a history to surprise observers so it’s always one to watch.

(Hat tip: ScottF.)




2 Comments on “Lyrid meteor shower to peak tonight”

  1. Anonymous Says:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&ie=UTF8&z=19&ll=52.511201,4.949695&spn=0.001161,0.001816&t=k&om=1

    I think one of them landed in Holland. Seriously though, what is that?

  2. Briandot Says:

    Thanks for the tip. I actually did see two of them at around 4 AM.


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