Lyrids - damp squib!

[Andrew*]

For the first time ever, I made a genuine attempt to observe a meteor shower! That's not to say that the telescope stayed inside - I did point it Casseiopeia way just to check on comet PanSTARRS - but for a good 2 hours I stood just staring, naked eye, towards the east.

This was Sunday night, so very close to the peak time on Monday morning, and for the whole 2 hours I watched, I counted just two meteors.

After some complicated calculations I worked that out to be a ZHR of measly 1!

During the same period there were nine, NINE, naked eye satellites! Great.

Any increase on 1?

Andrew

[SnakeyJ]

You've got me beaten - my figure was the big 0

I did manage 9 leonids last time around, over perhaps an hour - this I think was a result as all prev attempts obscured by the weather.

One day I hope to witness something special - maybe this years comets will leave a nice trail. 1000s/hr would be amazing....

[nephilim]

Zilch, Zero, Nil, 0, Nowt........................

[cyborg421]

I tried Saturday night but didn't see a single meteor and was out for about 4 hours. I normally see at least 5 randomers during that kind of duration.

Good to see Andrew got the title right, "squib" as in explosive and not "squid" as in sea creature, which amuses me every time I hear it and that is quite often!

Simon

[David Smith]

That tends to be the way with these minor showers. The predicted zhr may well be respectable but that is under mag 6 skies with a 180 degree field of view or something daft. Realistically you can knock 70 - 80% off that figure. I have made an effort for some of the lesser showers in the past only to be disappointed. I do get caught out though when one of them has an outburst and I am in bed!

Generally there days I tend to stick to the big 4.

[Paul M]

To be honest a lot of the minor showers barely improve your chances of seeing a meteor above that of seeing sporadics.

I used to make a point of looking at the Gemenids as I think they are by far the most reliable and have the advantage of having dark winter nights and a high radiant.

The Persieds rarely live up to the hype in the popular press and I've only ever seen a few.

I made an effort for the 1999 Leonid "storm". Never saw any meteors before going to bed but at dawn there were a number of persistent trails visible across the sky.

The Quadrantids used to get talked about quite a lot but I never saw a single one.

[David Smith]

Perseids, Geminids, Quadrantids & Leonids comprise the Big 4 I mentioned above. Leonids and Perseids generally average about 5 - 6 an hour whilst the Quads and Geminids are more like 10. Unfortunately the best showers usually involve a frost!

[Urgentemente]

Wasn't just me out of luck after all then! Sat out for an hour or two on Fri, Sat and Sun night and saw zilch, one on Mon night, and best one tonight that lasted a good 3-5 seconds or so.

[valefor]

i only got 1 sunday night. tuesday night i saw 2 tho. but definatly a downer on previous years. it has been 152 years since comet thatcher last past. maybe the dust is running low.

another decade there mite be none.

[Andrew*]

I'm glad it wasn't just me!

I've been wondering that - over how long do meteor showers stay "active" usually?

[valefor]

interesting question. dont normally think about the showers coming to an end. tho i dont think it will be able to be answered. its a "how long is a piece of string" question.

no real way to tell how many grains of dust thatcher left behind. i think the comet has a 415 year period and last past in 1861. so the best one will be in 2276 or 77. lol. not waiting that long.

[David Smith]

I've been wondering that - over how long do meteor showers stay "active" usually?

The annually repeating showers can be active anything from a few days to several weeks. The Perseids for instance usually starts to show activity in late July and continues well past the peak around the 13th to about the 18th / 20th ish. Have a look at this link for more info IMO.

As for the showers themselves, depends on the progenitor body, how active it was / is, how often it passes close to the Sun / Earth etc, etc. Others may have a better handle on this side of things than me

Edit: neglected to say that most showers have a reasonably well defined peak of activity and either side of that the activity drops off quite sharply.

[valefor]

how did you edit your post? i cant find an edit option.

[steveb1977]

I only ever keep a look out when the Gemenids and Perseids come round. The Gemenids last year was excellent.

how did you edit your post? i cant find an edit option.

Think you need over a certain amount of posts, might be 500.

[Ben_Jim]

Wasn't just me out of luck after all then! Sat out for an hour or two on Fri, Sat and Sun night and saw zilch, one on Mon night, and best one tonight that lasted a good 3-5 seconds or so.

If it was from near north heading west on a downwards direction I saw that one too, I just happened to look out the back door and looked up

Jim