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Weekend Lyrid Meteor Shower Visible From Earth

Posted by timothy on from the big-dark-blue-room dept.

jamaicaplain writes "The annual Lyrid meteor shower will hit its peak this weekend and promises to put on an eye-catching display. NASA scientists plan to track the Lyrid meteor shower using a network of all-sky cameras on Earth, as well as from a student-launched balloon in California. Meanwhile, an astronaut on the International Space Station will attempt to photograph the meteors from space."

34 comments

  1. Sprinkle by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    "15 and 20 meteors per hour for observers under the best viewing conditions"

    That's kind of wimpy. Wake me up if it hits 50.

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  2. Re:I misread this post by Tablizer · · Score: 0

    I thought it said lurid shower; what a let down!

    That's what did those heathen dinosaurs in.
       

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  3. Re:I misread this post by ozduo · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Who says they were heathen, they could have worshiped the supernatural too!

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  4. Re:Visible from ? by a_hanso · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Mars has meteor showers too, [oblig]you insensitive clod[/oblig]

  5. About 7 hours by tqft · · Score: 1

    until lyra will be above the horizon, looks like I am going to be a) clouded out & b) asleep

    Got an early start on Sunday.

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    1. Re:About 7 hours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't have to wait until Lyra will be above the horizon, as you're not likely to see any meteors near Lyra. The easiest to see (because they show the longest trails) are, in fact, far away from the radiant of origin, as they enter the atmosphere in a more "flat" trajectory, while the meteors visible at or near that radiant are more like small blinking spots (thus harder to recognize), as they are moving directly towards the observer.

    2. Re:About 7 hours by tqft · · Score: 1

      I was up to about 11.15pm local and was outside for about 15min then - nada except for maybe a solitary flash which could have been anything.

      Will see how late I am up tonight but might be a bit late

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    3. Re:About 7 hours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where I live, about half of Lyra is circumpolar (at least, Vega is), so it's easier to guess where that radiant is and what directions to expect ... But we had cloudy sky last night, and the following seems to become even worse ... so, nothing to see here for me, please move along.

      I hope you'll get some nice glimpse!

    4. Re:About 7 hours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope got clouded out

    5. Re:About 7 hours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eee, who art thou, Coward? Or did you just forget to sign in? The other two Cowards were me.

      Anyway, sorry you also missed the party ...

  6. Dammit Jim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dammit Jim, I'm an astronaut, not a photographer!

  7. Re:Visible from ? by arth1 · · Score: 1

    Mars has meteor showers too, [oblig]you insensitive clod[/oblig]

    With Mars having a smaller diameter, smaller gravity, and thinner atmosphere, I'm not sure I would use the term "shower" as much as sprinkle.

  8. All Hail Captain Obvious! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Weekend Lyrid Meteor Shower Visible From Earth"

    No foolin?

  9. Visible from Earh? by RetiredMidn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait; a lot of meteors are going to burn up when they hit Earth's atmosphere and it will be visible from Earth? Who'd have thought?

    1. Re:Visible from Earh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a lot of meteors are going to burn up when they hit Earth's atmosphere and it will be visible from Earth?

      That's most cromulently true and all, but please remember that for the best view such events will also visible from the meteors.

  10. when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs???! by hihihihi · · Score: 2

    would someone, for the love of heavens, please explain to me why they always miss out 1 peice of info: from which location on earth and which timezone!!!!

    i think this is such 2nd or 3rd story i am getting on slashdot. everytime i went to nasa website, watch damn videos and could never understand when and where on earth (srsly no pun) can i expect it!!!

    please enlighten me if someone knows
    (at my location this time already passed 12 hours ago)

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  11. Re:Visible from ? by mikael · · Score: 2

    Since the atmosphere is thinner than Earth's, any meteorite coming in at 25,000 km/hour isn't going to be slowed down or burnt up.

    It's going to be more like shrapnel than sprinkle.

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  12. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA (albeit about 2/3 down the page)

    Lyrid meteor skywatchers with good weather should venture outside in the late-night hours Saturday or early Sunday, preferably after midnight to catch the sky show around its peak, which occurs at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT). You should allow up to 40 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness.

  13. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually it is visible in all the Earth since whole planet plunges into huge cloud of cosmic debris.

  14. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by hihihihi · · Score: 1

    hey AC, honest thanks for information, i looked at all places where i shouldn't had looked :)

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  15. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by del_diablo · · Score: 1

    Still, where?

  16. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the 3rd paragraph of TFA:
    "The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellation Lyra"

  17. 3D images of Lyrids by awollabe · · Score: 0

    I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention that the entire point of the synchronized ISS + ground + balloon pictures is to capture the meteor positions in 3D. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/18apr_lyrids/

  18. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by quenda · · Score: 1

    But the GP asked where? What lattitude - can we see it from here in the south?

    which occurs at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT).

    Thats literally the middle of the day, you insensitive clod.

  19. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by lessthan · · Score: 2

    The comet produces a band of debris. The Earth's orbit crosses the band of debris. Pretending that the band of debris is fixed, we get an Earth that is crossing through the band very, very slowly, while rotating. So, no matter where you are on Earth, your section of sky crosses through the densest part of the debris at 0100-0300. That is why they never include location, or if they do, it is location followed by GMT.

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  20. Probabilities by dmbasso · · Score: 1

    "Meanwhile, an astronaut on the International Space Station will be crapping his pants over the possibility of being the lottery winner."

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  21. Just my luck by SuperTechnoNerd · · Score: 1

    I's been cloudless for weeks here. Now a meteor shower is coming and so is the bad weather. I can't catch a break!


    ARRRGGGGG!

  22. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by SuperTechnoNerd · · Score: 1

    It's always best to view a shower after midnight local time. It's because that side of the earth is facing into the path of the earth's orbit around the sun which gives a better view.

  23. More Information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They say that this shower will be very nice to watch because it will be during a new moon phase, making the meteors more visible due to less ambient light. The Washington Post reports that Saturn will be in a good position for us to view its rings with a telescope.

    I don't intend to do any sky watching, but I love it when these articles show up for one reason- they are REAL news, not "So-and-so said bs-and-such", or "Dear Slashdot, why can't I get no Tang round here?"

  24. Re:Visible from ? by mark_osmd · · Score: 2

    Earth meteors tend to burn up at a very high altitude (75 to 100 km) where the air pressure is about 11 micro bars at 80 km and scale height of 7km. Since 11 ubars is much lower pressure than the atmosphere at Mar's surface which is about 6 mbar (6000 mbar), the meteors should still burn up but at a lower altitude on Mars than Earth.

  25. Re:Visible from ? by mark_osmd · · Score: 1

    sorry, correction: 6000 mbar should be 6000 ubar

  26. Re:when and where is April 21st 0100 to 0300 hrs?? by fatphil · · Score: 1

    Anywhere on earth with a view of Lyra.

    The meteors aren't aimed at a single point on earth's surface, it appears you think they are.

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