(meteorobs) Perseids summary from Eastern Ontario -- GOOD!
Pierre Martin
dob14.5 at sympatico.ca
Thu Aug 13 18:05:50 EDT 2009
Hello all,
I am just back home from my Perseids observing trip. I still need to
decode the data and crunch some numbers, but briefly, this was
probably the best Perseid return I've ever seen (not having been in
the right area of the world to see the 1991-94 outbursts). The
following is a preliminary quick impression of what I saw. More
detailed reports will follow. I managed to observe both Aug 11/12 and
12/13 under good transparent skies, on top of a rise overlooking the
Ottawa valley. Last night was especially stunning, with a high
transparency and 6th mag skies despite Moon. I observed all of both
nights, and I am quite exhausted now. But was it ever worth it!!!
I agree with Joe Rao's statement below that the Perseids showed a
strong level centered around 6h UT (2:00am EDT) on the morning of
August 13. The activity was very intensive with very few if any
lulls!!! Many minutes of multiple Perseids, some simultaneous!! Many
bright meteors too, many of which were photographed too. It appeared
that this peak was a broad one, because the rates were actually quite
good all night. Lots of trained meteors, even the faint ones. Early
evening rates prior to midnight were also pretty good, with several
long and bright Perseids - which pleased the public (adults and
children alike) observing with us. The rates only began to show a
significant drop closer to the morning dawn.
As for the 1610 trail encounter on the previous night, August 12, I
clearly saw a short lived but significant "spike" in rates at around
8h UT (4:00am). However, the rest of that night was far quieter with
just the normal activity. As 4:00am neared, the rates immediately
increased without any warning. There was a sudden flurry of meteors
accompanied with an increase in bright trained meteors. This went on
for just a few minutes, followed by a short lull, and another wave of
activity before things subsided sharply.
That being said, the 2009 Perseids (especially last night's broad high
rates) were gorgeous! The Moon did not deter the shower as much as I
thought it would from a dark sky site. I hope to get the full reports
in soon. The weather continues to look promising, so I hope to catch
up on some sleep and maybe get out for some more Perseids tonight :)
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
On 13-Aug-09, at 10:35 AM, Skywayinc at aol.com wrote:
>
>
> In a message dated 8/13/2009 9:46:28 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> Bertunit at aol.com writes:
>
> Perseids made up for their POOR Aug 11/12 showing last nite.
> Rates for me were TRIPLE the previous night. Report to follow, 3 full
> hours.
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> These results should not be too surprising considering the path
> Earth took
> through the
> Perseid swarm last night as depicted by Jeremie Vaubaillion's plot.
>
> See:
> _http://www.imcce.fr/en/ephemerides/phenomenes/meteor/DATABASE/Perseids/BIN-tout/Noeuds-Earth2009.jpg_
> (http://www.imcce.fr/en/ephemerides/phenomenes/meteor/DATABASE/Perseids/BIN-tout/Noeuds-Earth2009.jpg
> )
>
> As you can see, around 6h UT on August 13, Earth apparently passed
> through
> a small, concentrated "knot" of activity. I had sent several
> messages to
> Jeremie in the weeks leading up to this year's shower inquiring
> about that
> particular region of dust and asked him to what type of activity
> this might
> provide . . . but he never responded to any of my inquiries.
>
> In my Perseid article for SPACE.com, I had written:
> "Vaubaillon's simulation clearly shows Earth encountering significant
> meteor activity from about 0 hours UT on Aug. 12 through about 6
> hours UT on
> Aug. 13, possibly suggesting better than average Perseid activity
> worldwide
> for both the late-night hours of Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, local times."
>
> So it appears, that the activity at around 6h UT on 8/13 indeed led
> to
> some intense activity.
> And of course . . . it rained hydro-meteors last night over my house!
> :(
>
> -- joe rao
>
>
More information about the Meteorobs
mailing list