Observation by Alex Pratt: Lunar Impact Flash - 2026 April 22

Uploaded by

Alex Pratt

Observer

Alex Pratt

Observed

2026 Apr 22 - 22:21

Uploaded

2026 Jun 19 - 13:33

Objects

The Moon

Equipment
  • C11 f/10 and f/3.3 focal reducer
  • DVTI+CAM 430
  • DVTI Camera Control Tool
  • VirtualDub and ALFI software
Exposure

25 frames/sec

Location

Z92 - Leeds, West Yorkshire (Bortle 7)

Target name

Lunar Impact Flash - 2026 April 22

Title

Lunar Impact Flash - 2026 April 22

About this image

I participated in the Lunar Impact Flashes (LIFs): April Lyrids Observing Campaign. 

https://lif.mi.imati.cnr.it/

On the nights of April 21, 22 and 23 I recorded continuous series of 5-minute videos of the portion of the Moon illuminated by Earthshine for between 1 hr 20m and 2 hr 30min per night, hoping to detect impact flashes caused by Lyrid meteoroids striking the lunar surface. Lyrid maximum was on April 22/23 and was mostly cloudy with occasional periods of good transparency. This event was recorded that night.

I used Tony Cook's ALFI software to process my numerous AVI files and it detected quite a number of candidate events. I uploaded these to the LIF website.

Apparent LIFs can be caused by cosmic ray showers, electronic blips or flashes from 'planes and satellites, so confirmation is required from at least one other station at the same instant at that specific location on the Moon. This event was also recorded by Tim Haymes and an observer in Germany. Tim and I matched another (fainter) event that night. The duration of this LIF was around 0.1s, quite typical of a fairly bright example. Many can be fainter than mag 8.

The LIF campaign is part of an international project to support the upcoming LUMIO mission, where a CubeSat will monitor the Moon for impacts from micrometeoroids to assess the flux in the near-lunar environment.

ESA - LUMIO

 

 

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