(meteorobs) Perseid Meteors
David Stine
david at exposquare.com
Sat Aug 13 20:17:54 EDT 2005
For a change we had beautiful clear and dark skies over Tulsa, OKla. At
our Astronomy Club of Tulsa observatory the evening of August 11th and
12th. The skies were better than I have seen at our site in a long
time. The Milky way was very awe inspiring and objects such as the
Lagoon just jumped out at you while viewing with only your eyes. The
Perseids this year, I felt were not as good as last year. Last year you
didn't have long lulls where there weren't any, but this year there were
times as long as 20 minutes where there was no activity. But what kept
this years Perseids still above average was the spurts where you would
have 5-8 in less than a minute and one time I think I saw 3 within a few
seconds. Another reason why I thought the shower was above your average
shower was the consistent trains that the Perseid's produced. Most of
the ones I saw had trains and some would remain a few seconds. There
was one Perseid, where I missed the entire meteor as people were
shouting and going crazy, that I still had enough time to turn around
and see the train still in the sky where the meteor was and I watched it
for at least 4 seconds before it disappeared, reminded me of the the
Leonid Fireballs. We had over 50 people at our observatory watching the
event and most were not disappointed. A group of students from Oral
Roberts University were the most amazed people there, some of them their
first meteor shower. It was a great night for all. I was hoping for two
nights in a row, but I guess I was asking for too much as clouds rolled
in Friday afternoon and completely wiped Tulsa out Friday night and
Saturday morning, but I guess I should be happy as I know from the
reports that have come in that some of you were clouded out both nights.
Here is my report.
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Observer: David Stine (Comet-1)
Date of Observation: August 11th - 12th, 2005 Begin Time (CST) 0250UT
End Time: 1058UT
Total TEFF: 6hrs 55 min.
Location: Astronomy Club of Tulsa RMCC(Ronald McDonald Children's
Charity)Observatory, located 35 miles SW of Tulsa, Ok.
Long.: 96.1471 W. Lat.: 35.8307 N. Elevation: 322.5609m
Method: Visual/Cassette Recorder
Showers Observed: Perseids (115) Kappa Cygs(5) Sporadic(7) Note two of
the Sporadic may have been Aquarids as it came out of Aquaris going
North and another one came out Aires but I didn't see anywhere about any
Aires shower activity, so these two I am listing as Sporadics.
Hourly Counts: 02:50-3:50 - 9 (P-6, KC-2, S-1)
03:50-4:50 - 15 (P-13, KC-1, S-1)
04:50-5:50 - 2 (P-1, S-1) Break was taken 452-535
05:50-6:50 - 14 (P-12, KC-(1) S-1)
06:50-7:50 - 14 (P-13, S-1
07:50-8:50 - 23 (P-22, S-1(May have been an Aires
Member)
Short break was taken 8:27-8:33
08:50-9:50 - 26P-24KC-1, S-1(May have been an
Aquarid)
09:50-10:50 -21 (P-21)
10:50-10:58 - 3 (P-3)
Total P-115 KC-5 S-7 = 126
Period 1 0250-0350 UT
Clear Skies LM 5.8 Was looking to the ENE 45d about 40 degrees in
altitude
Total Teff-1.0
Magnitude Distribution
Per -2(1) +1(2) +2(2) +3(1) Kappa Cyg 0 (1) +4(1) Sporadic -1(1)
Sporadic was a beautiful bluish in color near Altair with a white train
and slow speed.
The -2 Perseid was at that time the best of the night so far greenish
golden in color with a long 40 degree train at 03:44UT
_-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 2 0350-0450 UT
Clear Skies, LM-6.0 Was looking to ENE 45d about 50 degrees in altitude
Total Teff-1.0
Magnitude Distribution
Per - -3(1) -2(1) -1(2) 0(2) +1(2) +2(3) +3(2)
Kappa Cyg - 0(1)
Sporadic - 0(1)
-3 Perseid had a nice long train of 4 seconds and seemed to spark or
break
At 04:23
At 04:38 I was talking with Bert Mahous on cell when we both saw this
-2Mg. Perseid at the same time. He was in Pittsburg, Kansas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 3 0450-0550 UT
Clear skies, LM -6.2 Was looking to East 90d 70 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 17 minutes
Break - 0452-0535
Magnitude Distribution
Per +4(1) Sporadic +4(1)
____--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 4 0550-0650 UT
Clear Skies. LM 6.5 Was looking East 90d 90 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 1.0
Magnitude Distribution
Per -3(1) -1(1) 0(2) +1(1) +2(3) +3(2) +4(2)
Kappa Cyg -2(1) Sporadic (1)
-1 Perseid left a nice 2 second train
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 5 0650-0750
Clear Skies, LM 6.5 Was looking North 10d 90 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 46 min
Break 0736-0750
Magnitude Distribution
Per -2(2) -1(1) 0(5) +1(3) +2(2) Sporadic -1(1)
All of the negative magnitude Perseids had nice white trains, -1 lasted
2 seconds.
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Period 6 0750-0850
Clear Skies, LM 6.5 Was looking North 0 10d 90 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 43 min
Break 0750-0807
Magnitude Distribution
Per -2(3) -1(4) 0(9) +1(3) +3(3) Sporadic -1(1) This one came at 0834
out of Aires, possible Aired Member?
A -2 Perseid at 0808 left a 4 second train. A -1 Perseid at 0815 was a
short bright flash like an Iridium Flare right in the middle of the
double cluster. At 0944 saw three Perseids within 10 seconds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 7 0850-0950
Clear Skies, LM 6.2 Was looking East 90d 90 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 1.0
Magnitude Distribution
Per -6(1) Absolutely amazing, best of night, left at least a 5 second
train. I didn't actually see the meteor itself just the train. I was
facing a different direction and had to turn around to just catch the
last of the flash then the train. Reminded me of the Fireball Leonids.
-4(1) -2(2) -1(3) 0(8) +1(6) +2(3)
Kappa Cyg +2(1) Sporadic 0(1)-May have been a Aquarid member as it came
out of Aquarius and traveled north.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----Period 8 0950-1050
Skies clear but starting to brighten, LM-5.0 Was looking West 70 degrees
in altitude
Total Teff - 1.0
Magnitude Distribution
Per -1(2) 0(10) +1(2) +2(5) +3(1)
At 1023 we watched the ISS pass over in the North and at 1039 saw a
-4Mg. Iridium Flare in the North. Some people not knowing that it was
going to happen could have mistaken it as a point meteor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Period 9 1050-1058
Skies brightening LM-4.0 Was looking West 40 degrees in altitude
Total Teff - 8 minutes
Magnitude Distribution
Per - 0(3)
David Stine
Comet - 1
dstine at exposquare.com
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