(meteorobs) Perseids from Southern California

[Robert Lunsford]

On Tuesday afternoon high clouds began appearing in the southern skies. A 
quick look at the weather satellite revealed a small patch of high clouds 
moving up the Baja California peninsula. It did not appear significant and I 
was not too worried about being clouded out.

At sunset the skies were mostly cloudy with high clouds and I was getting a 
bit more anxious. I left the house near 10:30pm and the skies had cleared 
considerably. The moon could be seen low in the east with streaks of clouds 
in front of it.

Upon arrival at my dark sky site near Alpine, the skies were partly cloudy 
with most of the clouds lying in the northeast quadrant of the sky. I 
started at 11:50 PDT  (6:50 UT) and was facing halfway up toward the 
northwestern sky to avoid the moonlight. I could easily see from Cassiopeia 
to Aquila in the upper regions of my vision. As the hour progressed some of 
the clouds drifted into my field of view, which accounts for the poor 
limiting magnitude (compared to the rest of the night) and the low counts. 
Toward the end of the hour the clouds had drifted toward the northwest 
horizon and the sky was mostly clear.

At the beginning of the second hour 12:50am PDT (7:50 UT) is when I noticed 
an increase in Perseid activity. There would be sudden bursts of 2-3 meteors 
and then nothing for another minute or two. This lasted until 1:15am PDT 
(8:15 UT) when it seemed that the spigot was turned off. The Perseids seen 
during this time were pretty much the same brightness as those seen the 
remainder of the night, not exceptional brighter or dimmer. After the 
"outburst" rates slowly increased as the radiant gained in altitude even 
though the limiting magnitude worsened as the moon crept closer to my field 
of view.

The brightest meteor seen during the night was a -4 Perseid, which occurred 
at 2:47am PDT (9:47 UT). It was a beautiful orange color and left a 30 
second train. There were no -3's or -2's seen during the session. Several of 
the brightest Perseids had a distinct orange color. Since I was facing so 
far away I was not looking for minor showers but I happened to notice a 
distinct Alpha Capricornid while making a star count in Aquila.

Interval                  RA  Dec Teff      F    Lm   CAP PER  SPO
period 0650-0730 260 +65 0.670 2.00 6.08 C   0 C   1 C   2
period 0730-0750 270 +65 0.330 1.33 6.34 C   0 C   4 C   1
period 0750-0755 275 +65 0.083 1.00 6.26 C   0 C   3 C   0
period 0755-0800 275 +65 0.083 1.00 6.26 C   0 C   4 C   0
period 0800-0805 275 +65 0.083 1.00 6.26 C   0 C   5 C   0
period 0805-0810 275 +65 0.083 1.00 6.26 C   0 C   5 C   1
period 0810-0815 280 +65 0.083 1.00 6.26 C   0 C   8 C   0
period 0815-0820 280 +65 0.083 1.00 6.35 C   0 C   3 C   0
period 0820-0825 280 +65 0.083 1.00 6.35 C   0 C   4 C   0
period 0825-0830 280 +65 0.083 1.00 6.35 C   0 C   3 C   1
period 0830-0850 285 +65 0.330 1.00 6.23 C   0 C   3 C   2
period 0850-0950 300 +65 1.000 1.00 5.90 C   0 C  13 C   3
period 0950-1050 315 +65 1.000 1.00 5.85 C   1 C  23 C   2

Bob Lunsford