(meteorobs) Perseid peak night observation (ATAJU)

Jure Atanackov jureatanackov at email.si
Mon Aug 15 18:02:03 EDT 2005


Hello!

I observed the Perseid peak from Trije Kralji on Pohorje mountains with Jure,
Javor and other observers from MART2005 camp. The location is at 1200m altitude
and a fair distance from larger towns, so the sky is quite dark. It rained the
night before the peak and the sky only cleared in late afternoon, so the air was
quite humid and the ground wet. I set up together with over 40 other observers
(!!) on the large grass covered field uphill from the small hotel where we were
staying. About 15 observers recorded data, several others operated cameras,
while about 20 just watched casually and enjoyed the show. There was constant
chatter and occasional excited shouts from photographers and observers. Overall
the atmosphere was phenomenal! I observed for 6.96h teff and recorded 704 meteors.

I began at 19:31UT, which is half past nine local, facing southeast waiting for
the Moon to set. The sky was actually better than I had expected, even with the
Moon still above the horizon the limitings magnitude reached 6.5. The best
meteor was a -2 mag long Perseid in Pegasus that Jure caught on camera. The
first hour produced a good rate of 46 Perseids, but surprisingly only 2
sporadics (I only noticed that after I'd listened to the tape).

Rates barely improved during the next hour, despite the Moon setting. Limiting
magnitude improved to 6.9-7.0. The Milky way was highly structured and the sky
around Polaris sprinkled with faint stars. M33 was easily visible with the naked
eye as was M92. The best meteors of the period were several -1 Perseids. The
third hour had the best limiting magnitude which reached 7.0. Rates improved as
85 Perseids appeared during the hour. 10 minutes into the period a brilliant
long -5 Perseid fireball shot through Ursa Major and Bootes in the northwest,
that left a 20 second train. Several observers noticed vague shadows when the
fireball appeared. Rates slowly improved during the following hours and passed
100/hour after 2h in the morning. The last 30 minutes with the sky brightening
with dawn were really active. There were several fireballs with brilliant
terminal bursts. 

Overall the Perseids this year were good, but not nearly as good as last year.
The rates were good, but never reached the levels where adrenaling starts
pupming. The Perseids were mainly faint, but there were enough bright ones for
the show to be entertaining. Oh yeah, like past years it was really cold, but
this time no wind.

By the way, several nights before the peak, on August 9/10 at 01:52:10 UT we saw
a major -8 magnitude sporadic fireball. It lit up the scene and left a twisting
47 second train. Using another observers setup (Simon Krulec), my brother Peter
caught it on camera (Canon EOS300D with 21-mm f/3.5 lens at ISO1600). I haven't
made a summary report for the night yet, but you can see the fireball image at: 
http://forum.orion-drustvo.si/album_thumbnail.php?pic_id=159

The summary:

Date:	August 12/13, 2005
Observer: Jure Atanackov (ATAJU)
Location: Trije Kralji na Pohorju, Slovenia
Lat: 46°26'17"N Long: 15°27'30"E Elev: 1190m 
Start: 19:31UT	End: 02:30UT

Period UT	F	teff	LM	PER	AQU	CAP	KCG	Spor
19:31-20:32	1.00	1.01	6.61	46	1	1	2	2
20:32-21:33	1.00	1.00	6.96	54	4	2	1	15
21:33-22:33	1.00	1.00	6.97	85	2	1	0	13
22:33-23:31	1.00	0.97	6.80	77	3	0	0	17
23:31-00:31	1.00	1.00	6.85	99	6	0	0	21
00:31-01:32	1.00	1.01	6.88	113	4	0	0	25
01:32-02:30	1.00	0.97	6.64	101	1	1	0	13

Magnitude distribution:
PER:	-5(1) -4(2) -3(3) -2(8) -1(21)  0(53) +1(69) +2(108) +3(144) +4(86) +5(63)
+6(10)
AQU:	 0(1) +1(4) +3(1) +4(13) +6(2)
CAP:	+3(3) +4(2)
KCG:	+1(1) +2(2)
Spor:	+1(3) +2(9) +3(26) +4(34) +5(28) +6(6)

Clear skies!
Jure A.

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