Lyrids 2006, first analysis

The Lyrid meteor shower exhibited normal activity in 2006.
The profile below is compatible with a peak time of solar
longitude 32.32 degrees as it is listed in IMO’s Shower
Calendar. At present, the temporal resolution of the graph
is not fine enough to fix the time of maximum to a tenth of
a degree (2.4h). The maximum ZHR of 17 is also close to the
one found in the long-term analysis by Dubietis & Arlt
(WGN 29 (2001), p. 119, WGN).

A possible enhancement due to the 1-revolution dust trail of Comet Thatcher was not observed. Lyytinen gave a time of closest encounter of 2006 April 22, 9h25m UT (meteorobs mailing list). At that time, only a single observer was out, and a weak enhancement may be buried in the small number of Lyrids available.

[CSV]
Apr 2006 , Sollong ,nIND , nLYR , ZHR ,+- , lm
21 09h45m , 31.0688 , 8 , 23 , 5.1 , 1.0 ,6.26
21 22h40m , 31.5907 , 10 , 36 , 8.3 , 1.4 ,6.24
21 23h50m , 31.6428 , 8 , 37 , 12.4 , 2.0 ,5.83
22 03h45m , 31.8006 , 10 , 33 , 11.3 , 1.9 ,5.69
22 15h40m , 32.2845 , 7 , 39 , 17.2 , 2.7 ,5.89
22 21h30m , 32.5238 , 12 , 41 , 14.5 , 2.2 ,6.02
23 00h00m , 32.6226 , 9 , 40 , 11.3 , 1.8 ,5.87
23 02h35m , 32.7286 , 9 , 41 , 12.0 , 1.9 ,5.95
23 21h40m , 33.5047 , 24 , 43 , 4.6 , 0.7 ,5.92
24 00h35m , 33.6227 , 3 , 4 , 3.7 , 1.6 ,5.95
[/CSV]

The profile was computed with a constant population index
of r=2.2, no additional perception corrections and a
radiant height correction of sin(hR). Solar longitudes
refer to equinox J2000.0. nIND is the number of observing
periods, nLYR is the number of Lyrids in each average.
lm is the average limiting magnitude of the observing
periods involved.

We are very grateful to the following observers who
contributed to this first analysis:
Pierre Bader (Germany),
Ricardas Balciunas (Lithuania),
Ivana Belic (Serbia),
Tibor Csorgei (Slovakia),
Milan Darijevic (Serbia),
Dariusz Dorosz (Poland),
Audrius Dubietis (Lithuania),
William Godley (USA),
Visnja Jankov (Serbia),
Ivan Jokic (Yugoslavia),
Natalija Jovanovic (Serbia),
Mirna Kramar (Croatia),
Paul Martsching (USA),
Mikhail Maslov (Russia),
Koen Miskotte (Netherlands),
Markku Nissinen (Finland),
Jurgen Rendtel (Germany),
Branislav Savic (Serbia),
Teodora Savic Popovic (Serbia),
Nikola Stankov (Serbia),
Wesley Stone (USA),
Tomislava Turcin (Croatia),
Shigeo Uchiyama (Japan),
Iva Valenic (Croatia),
Michel Vandeputte (Belgium),
Jovan Vasiljevic (Serbia),
Thomas Weiland (Austria),
Kim S. Youmans (USA),
Ilkka Yrjola (Finland),
Przemyslaw Zoladek (Poland).