The Lyrid meteor Shower on the night of 22/23rd April

John mac

The Lyrid Meteor Shower - so called as the radiant (from where the meteor trails seem to radiate from) lies in the constellation Lyra. It peaks in the early morning of the 22nd April and is a reliable, though not spectacular, shower with perhaps up to 15 meteors seen per hour. Observations of the Lyrid meteors have been made for at least 2,600 years! Sadly, this year the peak of activity is only a couple of days after the full moon which will make the meteor trails harder to see, but the Moon will be low in the south so there may be a reasonable chance of spotting some. Observations made after 1 am are expected to be the most productive. The dust particles that cause the shower have been released by the comet Thatcher, discovered in 1861. Occasionally we pass through a dense clump of particles as happened in 1982 when over 90 meteors were seen per hour. So its worth waking up to have a look if clear around 1-2 am

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heads up for anyone with clear skies..

from here

Ilyushin76

Anybody see any?

Procyon

I had a look on Saturday, it was a very clear night, but didn't see much. I did see one streak of light but that's it.

EarlERizer

Yes, i seen a few but didnt know what they were, falling from north to south,atleast 5-6 in the space of a few mins.

lalee17

Saw a good few in Sally's Gap the other night