Lyrids
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Meteor shower lyrids |
|
|---|---|
|
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| Radians of the Lyrids | |
| activity | |
| Beginning | April 14th |
| maximum | April 22 |
| The End | April, 30th |
| Radian position | |
| RA | 18 h 4 m |
| DE | + 34 ° |
| ZHR | 18th |
| Population index | 2.1 |
| geocentric speed |
49 km / s |
The lyrids (also April lyrids ) are a meteor shower that occurs every spring and has been known for several centuries before our calendar . The name is derived from the constellation lyre ( Latin lyra , ancient Greek λύρα ), the ancient plucked instrument lyra .
As with all other shooting stars swarming is the best observation time of Lyrids the morning sky , but individual shooting stars are due to the already high standing above the horizon radians already be seen at midnight.
Radians and phenomenology
The radian of the lyrids, active from April 14th to 30th, is located in the southwestern area of the constellation Lyra , about 10 ° to the right below the bright white main star Vega . On the day of the very sharp maximum (April 22nd) the lyrids seem to come from a point with the right ascension of 18h 04m and the declination of + 34 °. The 5 ° diameter radian shifts daily by 1.1 ° in an easterly direction - to the extent that the orbit of the comet of origin is curved.
The maximum number of falling stars ( Zenithal Hourly Rate , ZHR) is about 18 per hour on April 22nd, but this is hardly reached in Central Europe.
history
The first recorded observation of the lyrids is from 687 BC. From the Chinese historical work Zuozhuan . Chinese observers reported that stars fell from the sky like rain .
Nowadays the ZHR of the Lyrids is 18 meteors per hour, but there are irregular increases in activity. During the last increase in activity in 1982, 90 meteors per hour were observed. For a few minutes, rates between 180 and 300 meteors per hour were recorded. Another notable eruption dates back to 1922, when 100 meteors were sighted per hour.
The mother body is the comet C / 1861 G1 (Thatcher) , which takes 415 years for one solar orbit.
Over the decades, the radian seems to shift somewhat, probably as a result of disturbances in the comet's orbit. Cuno Hoffmeister ( Sonneberg Observatory ) determined the radiant around 1940 at 18:12 / + 35 °.
On the other hand, the weak Eta-Lyrids , which two weeks later come from a radiant 10 ° to the east, have a different comet of origin ( C / 1983 H1 ) .
Lyrids in Poetry
Peter Rühmkorf filled a whole note box with small ideas, sentences and neologisms , which he called Lyrids in 1988 :
Yesterday I introduced the term “Lyrids” into my imaginative reflections - falling stars from the image of the lyre, which long towards socialization in the lyrical poem.
Web links
- 2012 Meteor Shower viewing guide (English, with video recordings of the lyrids from previous years)
- Observation results of the Lyrids 2012
- Observation results of the Lyriden 2013
- It's raining shooting stars tonight. On the night of April 22nd, 2020, the Lyriden meteor shower will peak. It is raining shooting stars and the observation conditions in the early morning hours are favorable. In: »scinexx - the knowledge magazine« . Published by MMCD NEW MEDIA GmbH (Düsseldorf), April 21, 2020, accessed on April 21, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ IMO Meteor Shower Calendar 2020 , accessed April 15, 2020
- ↑ namnmeteors.org: List of Meteor Showers ( Memento of December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b skyandtelescope.com: April's Lyrid Meteor Shower
- ^ Meteor Data Center
- ↑ JPL: C / 1861 G1 (Thatcher)
- ↑ Cuno Hoffmeister , data table in "Which star is that", p.151, Kosmos-Verlag 1958.
- ↑ Article in the FAZ.
- ↑ Article in the Tagesspiegel.