(meteorobs) The night before Perseids peak.

meteors at eclipse.net meteors at eclipse.net
Sat Aug 12 12:32:56 EDT 2006


Here in NW, NJ, I'll report my session last night.
The forecast- Clear and cool
The plan, forego Monk, Psych, and the Yankees to do a nap so I can be
fresh all night.
Wake up at 11:45 PM EDT and take the goodies out to the car to head up to
the observatory. On the way back from the car looked up and.....
SON OF A PICKLE! IT'S CLOUDY!
<many bad words deleted for family viewing>
Run inside to the pooter to check IR satellite loop.
Doggone if there isn't a Pennsylvania sized patch of broken overcast
cirrus streaming from Ohio across PA and covering NJ. Lets's see, it moved
that far in 6 hours which means it should clear at....6 AM !!!!!!!!!
This is getting personal. I see Joe Rao managed to keep Westchester County
clear. ^$*(I^%&^(^%&&((^ (After a few minutes, I was happy for you, Joe,
as well as all other who stayed clear)
OK, I'll take a short nap and see if it gets better.
Answer: NO
Finally at 3:30AM I said I might as well go out for a while.
Glad I did. Sky was mostly covered with moon lit cirrus, but it was very
clear behind the clouds :(
I watched for a little over an hour from home in my light polluted
neighborhood (all from one neighbor). First of all, it was very eerie, and
I couldn't figure out why. After about 10 minutes it came to me....no
katydids. For those that don't have them, katydids are a nocturnal
grasshopper type insect that make a sound like their name.
kay-T-did....kay-T-did.
When tens of thousands of them are going at once it's quite beautiful and
deafening. The calls drift in and out of phase with each other providing a
chorus like waves hitting the beach. Well what's interesting is that early
in the season (I heard my first one July 26th) they are very temperature
sensitive. Right now they shut down around 65d F (about 19C). This is why
they were quiet last night as temp was 59 F (15C). Later in the year, in
late September they will comtinue down to 45 degrees or so, but they're
not desperate for female katydids yet.
To the observing...
In my hour, peeking through holes in the thin clouds, saw 7 Perseids, no
other showers or sporadics. Due to clouds and moon, most were fireball
class.
The meteor highlight was a -9(estimated) at 08:24:50 UT (4:24:50 EDT).
I did not see it clearly because it was in%2


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