(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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