Activity of the Lyrid meteor stream

The activity of the Lyrid meteor stream is in most years fairly low with a visual rate at maximum (21-22 April) of 5-10 meteors per hour. Short bursts of very high Lyrid activity, with visual hourly rates of 100 or more, have sometimes been reported. These observations generally refer to faint visual meteors. The reported bursts of high activity have occurred in a very narrow interval of solar longitudes (deg 31.24 to 31.38 equinox 1950.0), while the recurrent or 'normal' maximum for bright meteors occurs at solar longitude deg 31.6, or slightly later. A mass separation of the meteors in the shower is thus indicated.