Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks April 21-22

[CentaurZ]

The annual Lyrid Meteor Shower should already be underway. It is expected to peak during the night of 2021 APR 21-22. Its radiant is in the constellation Lyra near the bright star Vega. That is the direction toward which the meteor tails point, but the meteors are equally likely to appear anywhere in your sky.

The Lyrids are debris from the long period Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. They have been observed for the past 2700 years, longer than any other meteor shower.

The Lyrids typically present about 20 meteors per hour for sharp eyed observers, although this has varied considerably with 700 per hour seen in 1803. The show begins after Lyra rises, which is in the early evening for mid-latitude northern hemisphere observers, but much later in the southern hemisphere. It will continue through morning twilight.

During the shower’s peak, the waxing gibbous Moon may present some interference until it sets in the predawn hours.

Descriptions of the shower or perhaps even lucky photos would be welcome additions to this thread. 

 

[happy-kat]

I'm hoping it will be clear and I'm going to set the rudimentary all sky camera up in anticipation of being lucky.

[happy-kat]

Didn't catch anything last night between 1155 and 2:39 when the battery died.

[Nigella Bryant]

April Lyrids early hours of this morning the 22nd. Moonlight gave a little interference but was ok. Saw 15 meteor's, 12 being Lyrids and 3 sporadic from 1.50am until 3.30am. just after 3am was when the most was seen. Several quick brilliant flashes. One longer bright lyrid leaving a distinct smoke trail. Cold got the better of us and had to pack it in. All in all, a lovely, but cold meteor shower.

[Chefgage]

Had my camera setup imaging from about 00:00 to about 04:45.

Whilst the first couple of images were taken I was looking up and saw one. So a quick look at the images already taken showed no meteors captured. My only guess the meteor appeared when the image was being saved to the memory card!! (I have a 5 second delay between each image being taken). 

Anyway a quick look at some of the images a couple of hours later showed quiet a few satellites but more importantly a few meteor trails. When I finally woke up around 04:45 the camera was busying itself taking pictures of the daylight sky

Next task is to go through the hundreds of images looking for those many  trails (hopefully).

Edited April 22, 2021 by Chefgage

[scotty1]

I was tempted out last night by the clear skies. From a semi-rural location between 01.20-03.40 I saw four meteors all of them Lyrids. 

I did get one  meteor on camera but it's small. A bit disappointing, I did see a hint of milky way, and got a few nice widefield shots though. Camera lens fogged up a few times, temperature was 0C

There were a few Tawny owls hooting, and a large hare crossed in from of me on the drive home, only an 8 mile round trip. 

 

Hi Chefgage do you run a camera battery grip? That's alot of shots you've taken. 

    

Edited April 22, 2021 by scotty1

[Chefgage]

51 minutes ago, scotty1 said:

I was tempted out last night by the clear skies. From a semi-rural location between 01.20-03.40 I saw four meteors all of them Lyrids. 

I did get one  meteor on camera but it's small. A bit disappointing, I did see a hint of milky way, and got a few nice widefield shots though. Camera lens fogged up a few times, temperature was 0C

There were a few Tawny owls hooting, and a large hare crossed in from of me on the drive home, only an 8 mile round trip. 

 

Hi Chefgage do you run a camera battery grip? That's alot of shots you've taken. 

    

It certainly was a lot of shots. Because of the light pollution, moon and wide angle I was limited to about 15 second exposures at the iso I was using. Unfortunately my intervalometer is limited to 399 images to I had to go outside to reset it a couple of times.

I am using a dummy battery that is powered off a dedicated DSLR power pack.

It's this dummy battery http://www.exprodirect.com/product.php?productid=47466&cat=10642&page=&featured=Y

And this power pack

http://www.exprodirect.com/ex-pro-on-the-move-16000mah-rechargeable-battery-power-system-replacing-for-use-with-ex-pro-coupler-system-for-canon-nikon-and-sony-dslr-cameras..html

 

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Chefgage

[happy-kat]

sadly after a busy day at work I forgot to setup last night

[happy-kat]

Nothing from the 527 25 second images facing East with a 150 degree lens from the night before on the 21st.

[Davey-T]

Clouds last night but looking better tonight ATM if there's any left 😄

Dave

[Corncrake]

5 hours ago, Chefgage said:

 my intervalometer is limited to 399 images

Errr, not wishing to teach granny eggs etc.,  but just in case :-

My intervalometer, (a cheap ebay type looking like a Neewer and many others of that ilk) appeared to only go upto 399, then it rolls over to  ---  and then back to 1. Then reading on 'tinternet  "---" appears to be an "infinite number" setting not a "no op" setting.

I have not yet tested it in the "---" setting beyond about 150, so ymmv !

Good luck.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Corncrake

[Chefgage]

1 hour ago, Corncrake said:

Errr, not wishing to teach granny eggs etc.,  but just in case :-

My intervalometer, (a cheap ebay type looking like a Neewer and many others of that ilk) appeared to only go upto 399, then it rolls over to  ---  and then back to 1. Then reading on 'tinternet  "---" appears to be an "infinite number" setting not a "no op" setting.

I have not yet tested it in the "---" setting beyond about 150, so ymmv !

Good luck.

Thanks for that. Mine when increasing the number stops at 399, it will not go any higher or to --- as you state. This is the first timeni have ever set it that high though!

[Chefgage]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Nothing from the 527 25 second images facing East with a 150 degree lens from the night before on the 21st.

Just had a quick run through of my images. I took 760 images with an 18mm lens centered  to the side of Vega. Of these 760 I captured a grand total of 6 meteors! Not too bad considering the percentage of the moon and the horrible light pollution I get towards the north/east.

[Nigella Bryant]

Managed to capture two Lyrids out of the 12 we saw and the 3 sporadic. Only taken with an all sky camera. 

[Chefgage]

Just been through all 780 images and I have managed 6! The amount of satallites that appeared though, that was staggering. They appeared on 67 of the images. Quite a few were of the flairing type. Quite easy to mistake one of them flairing satellites for a meteor. But a quick look and they also appeared on the next image but dimmer so definelty not a meteor.

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, Chefgage said:

Just been through all 780 images and I have managed 6! The amount of satallites that appeared though, that was staggering. They appeared on 67 of the images. Quite a few were of the flairing type. Quite easy to mistake one of them flairing satellites for a meteor. But a quick look and they also appeared on the next image but dimmer so definelty not a meteor.

Well done, encouraging. 

[scotty1]

Had another look early this am 03.15-03.45.

One Lyrid was seen at 03.18am, just after 4am my camera captured another Lyrid.

[happy-kat]

From the night of the 20-21 caught two and a possible third. One is quite a bit bigger, I'll share them over the weekend. I've adjusted the camera colour balance and picked up the milky way even though the Moon was stronger. Can't get focus any better but the camera is inside through a window.

[happy-kat]

Three from 22nd and one from 24th April 25 seconds with 5 second gaps, battery runs out shortly before 04:00am, only one is a good size really

 

[scotty1]

Lyrid meteor 4am on the 23rd

 

Saw four Lyrids from this good viewpoint, did not get any bright ones though.