Author: Kai Gaarder

In the period from April 15. to April 21. 2020, the author was able to observe the Lyrids under almost perfectly clear skies for 7 nights in a row. This gave a unique opportunity to observe the ascending phase of Lyrid activity this year. A total of 186 meteors were observed visually, among these 44 Lyrids, in a total of 21,95 hours. Lyrid activity were detected from April 15 – 16 onwards, with less than one meteor an hour towards April 18 – 19. From April 19 – 20, a slight increase in rates were observed, continuing to increase in the night of April 20 – 21 towards the maximum. The highest rates were observed in a short 40-minute period between 22:58 and 23:38 on April 21 – 22, with 9 Lyrids observed. Rates then started to decline towards morning twilight on April 22.

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