Spotted a very bright meteor break-up over Eureka Springs at 8:32-pm / 4-19-06, which illuminated the entire landscape for 2-1/2 seconds before breaking into 7 or 8 smaller pieces and burning out. It was moving from north to south and arced across nearly 90-degrees before disappearing. Then, at 8:47 pm, another smaller meteor streaked and broke-apart into 5 or 6 pieces; however, it was traveling from the southeast to the northwest... almost the opposite trajectory of its larger predecessor. These were both notable for their intense luminosity, especially the first.

Bright meteors aren't all that common, but exactly how bright is bright? If a meteor can light up the ground for even a couple of seconds, that's pretty bright. I'm hoping other people who visit this forum will also share their sightings of either (or both) of these meteors from last week.

The annual Lyrid Meteor Shower was to have peaked on the evening of April 20-21 the very next night. This shower is known to have an occasional bright fireball such as was described, however, the shower's radiant where the meteors are seen to originate from wasn't above the ENE horizon for a few more hours yet. While one of these might have been a fragment of a Lyrid meteor, I doubt that both were. The second was most likely a sporadic meteor with no connection to any shower. Such sporadics are seen an average of 2 to 5 times every night, yet most aren't bright enough to light up the ground.

Who else has a report on these meteors?

Bob