(meteorobs) Short report of Perseid max from southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

Hi all,

I'm going to abbreviate this because I just finished four hours of reporting to IMO.  If anyone would like more details please ask me, although frankly, consulting IMO's "quick look" page, under my name, will probably give you the information you want.

As George Gliba wrote to us, Maryland got a gift of fine Northern air this year.  Like George, I stayed local and went to my Bel Alton site.  There, I had +5.7 skies and three hours of moonlessness before the inevitable dawn twilight.  I did not see the landscape-lighting fireballs that Wayne Halley saw but I did see four -3 fireballs and a host of other bright Perseids.  I was surprized by two ten minute periods without any meteors but then I guess we all get a smattering of what the meteor stream has in inventory as Earth goes through it.  Sometimes we get fireballs and sometimes we get voids.  Wayne's latitude and longitude connected with the really bright ones.  I'm curious how the West Coast observers did as far as rates and magnitude distributions.  We will see by and by...

Date (UT): 12 August 2008

Time: 5:34-9:00 UT, Teff=3.27 hrs, 10 min. break

Bel Alton, MD (76d 59m W, 38d, 28m N, +10 m.elev.)

Lm=+5.7 for 5:50-8:50 UT, +5.2 for the rest.  F=1.00

PER -3 (4), -2 (4), -1 (4), 0 (11), +1 (9), +2 (22), +3 (14), +4 (4), +5 (8)  Total=80

SPO  -1 (1),  0 (3), +1 (1), +2 (6), +3 (7), +4 (6), +5 (2)  Total=26

Best wishes, especially to those who were clouded out this A.M.  Perhaps tomorrow morning?

Rich