Machen Mountain Meteorite

The following information has been doing the rounds over the past week:

Stargazers are set for a shooting star spectacle as the annual Lyrid meteor shower lights up the night sky. Although the shower started on 16 April and goes on to 25 April, astronomers said the best time to view it would be on Wednesday and Thursday night.

Clear skies are likely to provide a perfect celestial stage, say forecasters.
People will be able to see an estimated 15 to 20 shooting stars every hour, although an especially active Lyrid shower produced around 90 an hour in 1982. The meteors, sand-like particles shed by Comet Thatcher, leave luminous streaks across the sky as they burn up in the atmosphere.

Well, not wanting to miss out, at 12.30am I headed up to the top of Machen Mountain, the ridge that overlooks The Bristol Channel, Cardiff, Caerphilly and on the other side is a view of Risca heading up to Blackwood.

The Risca Mountain was well ablaze with a grass fire in a heart shape (it must have been started deliberately) and the smoke was billowing high into the sky and I could smell it. The light from the fire wasn't very helpful either. I did grab a photo. We have had so many grass fires in the past fortnight in South Wales, it has gone beyond a joke. Many of the lovely green mountains are now scarred black! The fire was still going strong when I left. The yellow on the horizon in my pic is caused by it.

I was on the mountain until 3.40am and it did get colder the longer I was there. I saw a few asteroids but didn't capture them. Three were outside the frame and one was just as I arrived and hadn't set up. the camera was set up at the compass point of 40degrees (North East) and the blip photo of the one meteorite I did get was grabbed at 3.24am just before packing up. I really enjoyed the three hours and being under the stars is lovely. But, as good as it was, Brecon with it's dark sky reserve is awesome and I will get back there.


Dr Radmila Topalovic, an astronomer from the Royal Observatory, in Greenwich, London, said: "The best place to see the Lyrids is to find an open field where you can see the whole of the night sky. "The best time is a few hours after midnight where you can expect to see most of the bright streaks in the early hours of the morning. Scan the sky over the course of the night as the meteors can pop out from any direction."

So, you've still a chance to catch a meteorite!