| Lyrid Meteor Shower: Tuesday 21 to Friday 24 April
2020 |
 |
| Hierdie tyd van die jaar beweeg die aarde deur
rommel wat deur 'n ou komeet agter gelaat is (laas in
1861 hier verby). |
| As mens in die vroeë oggend ure in die rigting van
Lyra kyk (dit is ongeveer Noord-oos van Stilbaai bokant
Pauline Bohnen reservaat) kan jy dalk kort kort 'n
meteor sien verby flits. |
|
Aangeheg is 'n artikel uit Sky at At Night vir u
inligting. Die artikel is vir mense in Engeland geskryf
maar as julle elke oggend vanaf drie uur kyk sal Lyra
met sy hoof ster Vega sigbaar wees. |
| Hieronder is South Cape Astronomy in Pearly Beach
se kommentaar op Facebook. |
| Deon Begemann |
|
| South Cape Astronomy: The Lyrid Meteor Shower -
April 2020. |
| Earth is approaching a stream of debris from Comet
Thatcher (C/1861 G1), source of the annual Lyrid meteor
shower. The Lyrids peak on the night of April 21-22 with
as many as 15 meteors per hour. These meteors are best
seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is
high in the sky before dawn. |
| From a Southern African point of view (Cape
Town/Gansbaai/Pearly Beach), the radiant only clears the
horison after midnight, reaching a maximum altitude of
around 20 deg above the northern horison (the red circle
above the star Vega in the chart below). The New Moon on
the 23rd (04:26 SAST), will allow for dark skies making
it an ideal time for observing a day prior and after
peak. |
| About a quarter of Lyrid meteors leave persistent
trains. A meteor train is an ionized gas trail that
glows for a few seconds after the meteor has passed. |
| Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1) is the source of the
Lyrid meteors. Every year, in late April, our planet
Earth crosses the orbital path of this comet. We have no
photos of it because its orbit around the sun is roughly
415 years. Comet Thatcher last visited the inner solar
system in 1861, before the photographic process became
widespread. This comet isn’t expected to return until
the year 2276. Bits and pieces shed by this comet litter
its orbit and bombard the Earth’s upper atmosphere at
177,000 km/h, (10,000 miles per hour). The vaporizing
debris streaks the nighttime with medium-fast Lyrid
meteors. |
| The Lyrid meteor shower has the distinction of being
among the oldest of known meteor showers. Records of
this shower go back for some 2,700 years. The ancient
Chinese are said to have observed the Lyrid meteors
falling like rain in the year 687 B.C. That time period
in ancient China, by the way, corresponds with what is
called the Spring and Autumn Period (about 771 to 476
B.C.) |
| Date of maximum 22nd April, duration of the meteor
shower 16th to 25th April. Radiant, R.A. 18h 05m, Dec
+34. The zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) is 15, velocity 49
km/s, start observing 02:00 till 05:00. |
| Follow the link on how to observe meteor showers
http://assa.saao.ac.za/how-to-observe/meteors/ |
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