Would love to have seen/heard that one! I went out last night (Saturday) about 11:00 to look for Lyrids with some of my family. Before midnight we saw a half dozen Lyrids and about as many sporadics, all but one pretty faint. At 12:00 I began a serious watch, which I ended at 1:00 this morning. I counted 13 Lyrids and 8 sporadics. During the first half hour the 6 Lyrids that I saw were again pretty faint, but during the last half hour 6 of the 7 that I saw were much brighter, about 1st magnitude and left bright trains for a second or so. It also got a little windy about 11:30 so I moved my chair to let the house block some of the wind. Unfortunately it also blocked some of my view, so I may have missed a meteor or two. I also enjoyed picking out M81 naked-eye (or unaided-eye for the PC). It wasn't easy but I could still glimpse it now and then. My family and I were also comparing visual acuity on a chain of four stars in Ursa Major. I was feeling pretty good about seeing both M81 and a fourth faint member of the chain of stars until I asked my 28-year-old daughter how many stars in the chain she could see and she said, "Five." I checked with my binos, and sure enough, there was a 7th mag or fainter star in the same chain. I'm over it now, but I was pretty bummed for awhile. Oh, I almost forgot to mention my observing location: My porch in Tropic. ;-) Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Barrett Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 3:08 PM To: 'Utah Astronomy' Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Lyrid meteor shower hits the west! Hi gang- With the Lyrid meteor shower going on, there has been a lot of reports in the western states of meteors. Just wondering if anyone has seen anything interesting in the past night or two? Below are a few reports from the RENO area. Thanks! Barrett www.FallenStarHunters.com RENO, Nev. (AP) - Astronomers say a loud explosion heard across a large swath of Nevada and California on Sunday morning was likely caused by a meteor. The explosion rattled windows and shook houses from Reno to Winnemucca in Nevada, and from the Sacramento to Bakersfield areas in California. Dan Ruby of the Fleischmann Planetarium at the University of Nevada, Reno, says the reports indicate the meteor broke up above Earth somewhere over the Sierra southwest of Reno. There were no reports of earthquakes at the time. UPDATE: NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tells News 4 they have received reports of a meteor strike near the Kingsbury Grade area but there is no confirmation at this point. NBC Bay Area is reporting the Tuolumne County sheriff's department, about 90-miles east of Stockton, is investigating the possibility that there may have been the physical impact from an overnight meteor shower. UPDATE: There have been reports of people seeing something in the air or hearing a boom from many parts of the Reno-Sparks metro area, also the Sierra, the Tonopah area and the Winnemucca area. The boom, if it was from a meteor or meteors, may have been from a sonic boom and not the result of strike. Some people had reported to News 4 and other media of a possible local impact. News 4 has reached-out to a number of local law enforcement agencies, state agencies and federal agencies looking for exact answers on what happened this morning. No agency has given us a definitive answer. Related Links Lyrid meteor shower viewing forecast UPDATE: A number of people in the Sierra around El Dorado County have reported they saw what they believed to be a meteor just before the sound. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office tells News 4 they cannot confirm anything landed in their jurisdiction, but do tell us they have received a number of phone calls regarding the incident. Earth is experiencing a Lyrid meteor shower, it's peak was expected to be in the overnight hours. RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - A large boom was heard Sunday morning around 8:00am around Northern Nevada and the Sierra. Washoe County Sheriff's Dispatchers tell News 4 they have received calls from "everywhere" including the Reno metro area to as far away as Incline Village. The Sheriff's Office says they are trying to find the source of the boom, but do not know what caused the boom. There have been reports of the boom being heard in the Reno-Sparks area, Carson City, Minden, South Lake Tahoe, Placerville and Truckee. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".