(meteorobs) Obs: 12/13 July 2007

[meteors at eclipse.net]

Ouch Paul, that was a tough night.

I have July 7/8 in my tape recorder, 5 meteors in ~ 1.5 hours, so I can
commiserate. LM was only about +5.3....like I said, haven't transcribed
the tape yet.

It's kind of sad, the +5.7 that's a bad night for you, is a good night for
me here in NJ.

The Clear sky clock is pretty good in my experience. Occasionally they
miss some blow off from Thunderstorms upstream from us, but all in all,
their predictions are better than any local meteorologist's "Mostly Clear"
or even "clear" since those statements are not aimed at the meteor
observer audience.

Once I suspect it will be clear (and I monitor the visible satellite loop
during the afternoon to see what's upstream) th only question is the
transparency. This summer so far, they have been overly optimistic on most
nights. "Average" seems to be about LM +5.3, borderline for useful data on
a slow night. Still, it's a tough task, foecasting for on exact point
based on a hemisphereic model, when local conditions can have such a large
effect on how hazy the sky is. And here, with all the light pollution (I
don't just have Ames off in the distance, we're ringed by light polluting
idiots) even a mildly hazy night can trash the LM.

I can walk outside my home, even with the "gotta have my garage light on
all night for safety" dummy across the street and tell in about 15 seconds
whether it's worth driving to the NJAA.

If I can see the 5th magnitude star in the little dipper's bowl, and
easily see most of Scorpio and Sagittarius, I know it's worth the effort.

I admire your dedication, 6 in 2.5 hours can be really brutal. I keep
track of satellites for entertainment to keep me awake :)

Wayne in NJ

> 13 July 2007 05:00-07:30 UT (CDST 12/13 July 12:00-02:30am)
>
> Paul Martsching
> McFarland Park Observatory 4 miles NE of Ames, Story County, Iowa
> Long: 93 deg 34 min W  Lat: 42 deg 05 min N  Elevation: 1,040 feet
> Method: Visual; paper, pencil and talking clock
>
> 05:00-07:30; 62 deg > 59 deg F; wind: N 5 mph > NW 5 mph; clear > very
> slightly
> hazy; average limiting magnitude: 5.9 (6.1 at 05:00 > 5.7 at 07:30);
> facing SE
> 45 degrees; total teff: 2.5 hours
> Time   mag.   type   comment
> 05:17  +3     Spor
> 05:26  +1     Spor   brief train
> 05:34  +3     Spor
> 06:06  +4     Spor
> 06:23  +4     Spor
> 07:09  +2     Spor
> Antihelion: none
> Alpha Capricornids: none
> South Delta Aquarids: none
> Sporadics: +1, +2, +3(2), +4(2)
>
> A rather disappointing observing session!  At midnight the S and SW
> horizon was
> unusually good (I've seldom seen so little sky glow over Ames), but it
> didn't
> last - the usual summertime horizon haze gradually developed.
>
> Many nights this year when "clear" sky has been forecast and even the Ames
> Clear
> Sky Clock showed clear - in fact it has been rather hazy to partly cloudy.
> Since any haze or clouds is lit up by the lights of Ames to the Southwest
> or
> Story City to the North and the limiting magnitude at McFarland Park isn't
> that
> wonderful any way, most of the time it seems hardly worth while to go out
> with
> anything less that "clear" skies.
> ---
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