(meteorobs) Saddleback Mountain Perseids
Richard Kramer
kramer at sria.com
Tue Aug 14 13:49:02 EDT 2007
The Goal
Observe the Persied peak from the summit of Saddleback Mountain, Maine, USA.
This summit provides an unobstructed, 360 degree view of some of the
darkest skies in the northeastern United States.
The Adventure
The hike up to the summit was via a challenging, but rewarding trail,
traversing some 5.6 miles (8.9 km) with a vertical gain of about 3000
feet (1000 meters) from the trailhead. My two older daughters (out of
4 daughters total) lured by the promise of spectacular, unobstructed,
transparent skies decided to come along. Since the summit is very
exposed and subject to low nighttime temperatures and high winds, we
packed winter gear sufficient for comfort down to 30 degrees F (0 deg
C). This, along with the need to carry enough water to the top of
this dry, sparse peak, meant that backpacks weighed in at 60 pounds
(27 kg) (mine) and 27 pounds (13.5 kg) (each daughter). This seemed
only fair since, after all, I am more than twice as old as each of
the daughters. Of course, we were also thoroughly supplied with star
charts, limiting magnitude tables, a list of satellite passes, and a
notebook for recording.
We hiked in Saturday afternoon and spent the night in a lean-to
shelter near a spectacular cantilevered glacial erratic boulder
called Piazza Rock. Skies that night were a little disappointing with
LM only around 5.5. In any case, since there were only small openings
in the tree canopy, we could only observe casually on Saturday night
and dream of the big show ahead the next night from the mountain top.
The Results
As the saying goes: man schemes and God laughs (it rhymes nicely in
the original Yiddish).
A cold front swept through the area from the northwest, clouding out
all but a few brief observing windows. :(
On Sunday, we climbed to the summit. The somewhat strenuous climb was
great fun and included a lunch stop beside a high mountain pond. The
final traverse to the summit, about a mile along an exposed ridge
running from west to east, was interesting, if not exactly fun. We
were pushing along through high cross winds and scattered showers
which were falling from the passing cells of cumulus
clouds. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be much electricity at
play in the clouds, but we did not have a comfortable feeling,
exposed on that ridge.
Given the threatening conditions, we decided to make a base camp in
the scrubby growth a hundred meters below the summit. Unfortunately,
this was on the windward, north side of the mountain since the
leeward side was too steep for a camp. It was also the side from
which the front was advancing. We settled in at base camp and watched
the sun set behind a threatening line of clouds as a layer of cirrus
clouds advancing ahead of the front covered the skies overhead. Not
good. There were some extended openings in the cirrus layer which
appeared to be moving in our direction, so we still had some hope of
seeing a few Perseids.
In the late twilight, around 9:30 local time, gazing towards the
north, as we were contemplating the grim prospects of a rainy night
exposed below the summit, as we watched a line of lightning filled
storm cells drift NW to SE about 100 miles to our north. These cells
were not heading directly at us, but their line seemed to be drifting
slowly in our direction. Suddenly, we saw a monster earthgrazing
Perseid fireball streaking behind the layer cirrus clouds which
overlaid the storm cells, lighting it up. Our first thought was that
it was a burst of lightning. Then, we realized it was a fireball
streaking behind the distant cirrus layer along a track about 100
degrees long, parallel to, and about 15 degrees above the northern
horizon. "Well," we thought, "if that is the only Perseid we see
tonight, at least it was a spectacular one."
Shortly after that fireball, the storm front seemed to stall and our
skies cleared in every direction but the distant north. We quickly
put on our layers of clothing, grabbed our observing paraphernalia
and a thermos which we had filled with hot chocolate, and hastened to
the summit. Being, as we are, sky-starved because of our murky, light
polluted, home skies, it was a joy to once again see the milky way
arching through the summer sky. Unfortunately, with LM of barely 5.5,
these weren't the spectacular, transparent skies we were hoping for.
We settled in the lee of a rock and proceeded to enjoy the show. Even
though the skies were not as clear as we might have preferred, the
large proportion of bright meteors, the swarms of satellites, the
milky way, and the full spread of the constellations across the
unobstructed celestial dome helped make the whole adventure worthwhile.
Naturally, we were keeping a close watch on the progress of the storm
front. Shortly after midnight, the front accelerated its advance in
our direction and be beat a hasty retreat to the relative refuge of
our base camp. Not long after we settled in below the summit, we
watched a cloud full of lightning hovering over it.
We awoke the next morning in the middle of thick clouds with
visibility of 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 meters), winds steady at 40 miles
per hour (60 km/hr), and episodes of heavy, sideways rain.
Fortunately, conditions improved as we breakfasted and broke camp,
and we able to spend some time picking (and eating, of course)
handfuls of mountain blueberries and cranberries during our return
traverse along the ridge line.
The few observations we were able to record may be found, below.
Richard
// Header section
date 2007-08-13
interval 0230-0410
observer "Richard" "Kramer"
location 70 30 00 W, 44 56 00 N
site "top of Saddleback Mountain" "USA"
// Shower section
shower PER 046 +57
shower SPO
// Number section
// Interval RA Dec Teff F Lm PER SPO
period 0230-0240 307 +40 0.160 1.18 5.50 C 4 C 2
period 0330-0350 307 +40 0.320 1.00 5.50 C 14 C 3
period 0400-0410 307 +40 0.160 1.00 5.10 C 1 C 4
// Magnitude section
// Show
Interval -3 -2 -1 +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 Tot
distribution
PER 0230-0240 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.0
distribution
PER 0330-0350 1.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 4.0 1.0 0.0 14.0
distribution
PER 0400-0410 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
distribution
SPO 0230-0240 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 2.0
distribution
SPO 0330-0350 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 3.0
distribution
SPO 0400-0410 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 4.0
// Personal comments
1. Winds NW 35 miles per hour gusting to 55 miles per hour
2. Temperature 48 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Observing through breaks in the cloud front
4. Driven off the mountain summit by thunderstorms
5. All Perseids of mag 0 or better were green in color
6. All bright Perseids showed trains: mag 0, .5sec through mag -3, 1.5 secs
7. Weather the next morning just below the peak: visibility 3 meters,
winds NW 45 miles per hour, sideways rain
8. Can't wait to try it again
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