(meteorobs) South and North Carolina Perseids

meteors at comcast.net meteors at comcast.net
Thu Aug 15 15:13:02 EDT 2013


We have had one of the wettest springs and summers in history, so I 
decided to travel to the mountains near Asheville, NC hoping for clear 
skies. I contacted Rick Hill, who lives near there, and arranged to meet 
him at Craggy Gardens overlook Sunday and Monday nights. As things 
turned out, planning to travel was unnecessary.

Surprisingly, weather forecasts all day on Saturday and Sunday indicated 
we would have a greater chance of clear skies along the coast than in 
the mountains. Therefore, I contacted Rick to let him know I would be 
staying put for the moment.

On Monday morning I set up shortly after midnight in a grassy field 30 
miles northwest of town. I normally observe there with my telescopes, 
and have LMs in the 5.6 to 5.8 magnitude range. This morning was no 
exception, and other than the first 20 minutes or so, the sky was 
completely clear for the next 3 hours. The Perseids seemed fairly strong 
and consistent during all three hours that morning. Perseid magnitudes 
seemed normal to me, at least that was my impression while in the field 
observing. During my three observing periods, I recorded 36, 41, 45 
Perseids. I also recorded 2 ANT, 2 KCG, 1 SDA, 23 sporadics, while no 
ATRs were seen.

I again watched weather forecasts all day Monday and it seemed the 
forecast was the same, so once again decided not to travel to NC until 
Tuesday.

Arriving at about the same time as the previous morning, LMs were a 
consistent 5.7m but I did have to factor in some cloud cover. There 
weren't very many clouds, but they seemed to always be present, blocking 
10 to 15 per cent of the sky. Meteor activity seemed to nearly be a 
carbon copy of the previous morning, with slightly less Perseid 
activity: 1 ANT, 0 ATR, 0 KCG, 2 SDA, 17 SPO and 23, 28, 26 Perseids.

After returning home and catching a 90-minute nap, I was on the road to 
the mountains of North Carolina to catch up with my vacationing family. 
All in all, I had a nice two morning Perseid watch.

-- 
Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors at comcast.net
namn at namnmeteors.org

North American Meteor Network (NAMN)
http://www.namnmeteors.org/


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