(meteorobs) Perseid observations from Oregon, August 11/12

[Wes Stone]

After days of beautiful weather, Saturday morning dawned with thick smoke 
rolling in from the Barry Point fire to my southeast. I was committed to 
doing a local star party, so I stuck around close to home. The smoke 
persisted throughout the day, and as night fell the sky was socked in up to 
about 40 degrees in elevation. Through binoculars, Vega looked yellowish 
instead of its normal bluish tinge. Turnout at the star party was sparse, 
although everyone got to see some good early evening Perseids including a -5 
fireball at around 10pm. Everyone went home at around 11pm, and I retreated 
to my yard.

I began observing soon after midnight and found that the smoke had relented 
somewhat. Skies continued to improve, although I never quite reached my 
normal limiting magnitude of 6.7-6.8. The moon wasn't a big factor for 
me--it was blocked by a hill and trees at moonrise and registered maybe an 
0.1-magnitude drop in the center of my field later on. The moon wasn't 
strongly reddened, more confirmation that the smoke had retreated.

Perseid rates were not very impressive for a leap year. I saw 140 in 3.3 
hours. There were lots of bright and colorful meteors (perhaps the smoke 
imparted some of the orange and yellow colors). Sporadic rates were very low 
(14 in the same period), hinting that not all was right with the sky 
conditions. I was fighting tiredness during the first part of the watch, and 
took a nap for a bit of an hour before catching the predawn show (which was 
still sporadic-poor).

I thought about going out again late Sunday evening, but wasn't feeling that 
great so I didn't.

Observation Summaries (full reports were submitted to IMO):

Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting/Paper
Date: 2012 August 11/12

Interval 1: 0707-0805 UT
Teff: 0.97 hours
F: 1.11
LM: 6.42
Total Meteors: 38
KCG: 1 [+4]
ANT: 1 [-1]
PER: 31 [-4, -3, -1, 0(5), +1(6), +2(10), +3(5), +4(2)] mean=1.3
Spo: 5 [0, +1, +2, +4, +5] mean=2.4

Interval 2: 0805-0902 UT
Teff: 0.95 hours
F: 1.11
LM: 6.60
Total Meteors: 38
KCG: 1 [+3]
SDA: 1 [+4]
PER: 33 [-2, -1, 0(3), +1(4), +2(10), +3(8), +4(5), +5(1)] mean=2.1
Spo: 3 [+1, +2, +3] mean=2.0

Interval 3: 1025-1104 UT
Teff: 0.65 hours
F: 1.11
LM: 6.56
Total Meteors: 43
KCG: 1 [+3]
PER: 39 [-4, -3, -2, -1(3), 0(5), +1(5), +2(7), +3(9), +4(7)] mean=1.6
Spo: 3 [+3(2), +4] mean=3.3

Interval 4: 1104-1149 UT
Teff: 0.75 hours
F: 1.11
LM: 6.51
Total Meteors: 41
PER: 37 [-2(2), -1(3), 0(3), +1(9), +2(9), +3(6), +4(5)] mean=1.6
ERI: 1 [+1]
Spo: 3 [+2, +3(2)] mean=2.7

--
So he slept on a mountain.
In a sleeping bag underneath the stars
he would lie awake and count them.
And the gray fountain spray of the great Milky Way
would never let him die alone.
--Wilco