The Lyrid meteor shower

just a quick reminder that the lyrids are peaking 2moro night/fri morning. Also keep a look out over the weekend as a few days after this shower has peaked its common to get some really nice fireballs!

Thanks for the reminder Conor, gives it to be clear tonight so everything is looking good! I will meet up with you later for some tea and meteors.....i will start at 22.00 UT

See you then.

Clear skies to the rest of you tonight and good luck!

And to you Martin. I hope it is still clear when I finish work - I get to 'play' after Aslan in Tullamore tonight, after their concert! Lyra should be nice and high, the Moon moved on, and the sky a little darker then if the moon were higher.

Seanie.

I seen 17 meteors last night however only 9 of which where Lyrids. The sky was very dense with mist so only the sky near the zenith was visible. One Lyrid was a nice object like a diamond travelling parallel across the east but the highlight of the night was a beautiful orange Sigma Leonid which appeared in the NE at a steep angle to the horizon with a lovely long orange train.

Using an ordinary digital camera i spent alot of time satellite hunting. I successfuly captured many satellite trails, aeroplanes using a 2 sec exposure. I also obtained 3 images of an unexpected Irdium Flare which was much brighter than Jupiter moving through Leo to the north. ( i actually fell off my observing chair trying to set the camera up on time lol) At the end of the session at 02.30 i seen a faint 4 degree north pointing lunar pillar! This was a very cold night but good fun anyway. My sister also seen her first meteor in years ( a Lyrid) which i missed. Clouds ended the session but it is not over yet. I hope to see some nice fireballs in the days ahead!

Conor and i will be doing a regular fireball watch tonight and tommorow!

Clear Skies!

Any Luck Seanie?

Any Luck Seanie?

Nothing down here Martin. On Thursday night, it was nice and clear to start off, before I went into work. However, when I finished up around 02:30hrs, the sky was very heavily misted but at high altitude. The only thing visible was the Moon, and not very clearly at all.
Last night was clouded out pretty much completely. It was raining throughout the evening here before I started (22:00hrs), however, when I finished up around 04:00hrs, the rain was gone, the ground dried up somewhat, but the sky completely cloudy!

Its aways the same down here when a major shower peaks!

Glad you guys got to see something!

well last night me and martin headed off out to the country for another watch, we started at about 11 and finished off around 4am. The weather wasnt great at all. mostly cloudy and patchy rain. we are planning to do another watch tonight as the weather looks to be better.

Clear skies