I managed to view the Lyrid maximum for 2 hours from my new house located 20 miles east of San Diego. This was the first meteor observation from my new vantage point and I have found that it gives me an increase of at least 1 full magnitude right out the front door! Anyway, I faced toward the NE at an elevation of 60 degrees between the hours of 2:15 PDT to 4:15 PDT (9:15-11:15 UT). I counted 29 meteors, 16 of them belonging to the Lyrid shower. The limiting magnitude ranged from +6.11 at the start to +5.86 at the end. There were lots of bright Lyrids with the brightest being a –2 that appeared low in the east. The most impressive meteor of the session was a 0 magnitude sporadic that shot through the center of my field of view and left a nice train. I’m looking forward to many more sessions from home!
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Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 17-Apr 22 Mean Solar Long: 032.234
Beginning Time (UT) 0915 Ending Time (UT) 1115
Total TeFF: 2.00
LOCATION: Blossom Valley, CA, USA
LONG: 116 51′ 37″ W LAT: 32 51′ 44″ N
Elevation: 290 m Bortle Scale: Class 4: Rural/suburban transition
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 58F (14C) – 60%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 59F (15C) – 53%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape/Video Recording
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Showers Observed
ANT 14:56 (224) -17 01-00 1 Total
LYR 18:08 (272) +33 07-09 16 Total
SPO 04-08 12 Total
Hourly Counts 12-17 29 Total
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Period 1 0915-1015 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.06
FOV 270 +50 TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 032.206
METEOR DATA:
ANT 1, LYR 7, SPO 4 TOTAL 12
Magnitude Distribution
ANT +2 (1) Mean +2.00
LYR 0 (2) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (2) +5 (1) Mean + 2.57
SPO +3 (1) +4 (3) Mean + 3.75
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Period 2 1015-1115 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 5.94
FOV 285 +50 TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 032.246
METEOR DATA:
LYR 9, SPO 8 TOTAL 17
Magnitude Distribution
LYR –2 (1) –1 (2) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (2) Mean + 1.44
SPO 0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (3) +3 (1) +4 (1) Mean + 1.88
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Total Magnitude Distribution
ANT +2 (1) Mean +2.00
LYR -2 (1) –1 (2) 0 (2) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (3) +4 (4) +5 (1) Mean + 2.19
SPO 0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (3) +3 (2) +4 (4) Mean + 2.50