The Lyrid meteor shower of 2020 peaks tonight!

Apr 11, 2020
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Last night I saw about 5 meteors per hour. I did see two that were fireballs. I am looking forward to going out tomorrow morning to watch during the peak. Happy meteor watching fellow space fans!
 
Yes, the Lyrid meteors did perform last night and early this morning. I was out from 2300 until 0030 EDT this morning.

I enjoyed great, clear skies last night with temperature 5C. Corona Borealis (seven stars) and Eta Coronae Borealis star distinct, no trouble viewing unaided eyes, limiting magnitude down to 5.6 or so where I am at in small farm fields and area. No street lighting or other lights around, much of the area darker now in surrounding regions. I enjoyed some binocular, 10x50 views of fuzzy ball, M13 in Hercules too. 5 bright Lyrids were visible shooting very fast in different directions from the radiant and a number of fainter Lyrids visible too, perhaps 4th to 5th magnitudes. The data I have on Lyrid meteors, Lyrids zip 49 km/s so shoot by quickly. The 5 bright Lyrids I saw, one as bright as Vega or near 0.0 apparent magnitude, moving eastward away from the radiant, some others 1st to 2nd magnitude I estimate. It was a good night for Lyrid meteors in small farming areas with plenty of fields, and woods vs. areas with lighting around. I notice now with the COVID-19 lockup, the sky is darker where I am at, fainter stars come out to play too (5.7 or so). Satellites and ISS pass by at 8 km/s compared to Lyrid meteors 49 km/s. Streak, zip, and gone 😊 Some Lyrid meteors streaked across Bootes past Leo and to the WSW sky, others zipped by Ursa Major moving NW. I sat outside in my *meteor chair* enjoying the time---Rod
 
Apr 11, 2020
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I was up from 1:50 AM until 2:50 AM CDT. I saw about 15 meteors, and about three fireballs. They were very bright! It was very cool to see the ionized trail behind the fireballs. I really enjoyed this meteor shower.
 

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