(meteorobs) A Visual Observing Question

Paul Jones jonesp0854 at gmail.com
Sat Dec 28 10:58:02 EST 2013


I second Mark's suggestion on seeking out nearby county, state or national
forests, parks and/or even monuments as safe and darker sky alternatives.
Sometimes, even a relatively painless 5 to 10 mile trip in a crucial
direction could gain you a .5 mag drop in LM.  Although I am currently
fortunate (soley by the grace of the Good Lord, no doubt) to have dark
skies right outside my door, it was not always that way.  I used to live
right in the middle of downtown St. Augustine, a rapidly growing, mid-sized
tourist mecca.  I also was lucky to get 5.0 LM from my yard, but lo and
behold I had the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument two blocks over
from me.   Its wide fort green had great horizons and proximity to the dark
eastern sky over the Atlantic that afforded me the chance to get useful
observations of the Leonids, Geminids and Perseids several times, including
the amazing 2002 Leonid storm!  However, like Mark's experience,  that
situation also dried up for me when a subsequent park superintendent
decided to put high pressure sodium vapor lights in strategic spots around
the fort green to discourage the homeless from taking root.
Also, I had available to me Anastasia Island State Park less then three
miles away that I could easily pull down 6.0 skies in.   I had even worked
out a system with the park rangers who gave me the combination to the
cypher lock on the park gates to access the park in the wee hours of the
morning should I choose to.    Mark, you speak the truth (like a true
national park ranger yourself...;o).  Don't give up Paul, until you've
researched all possible options open to you.  You might be surprised what
you might be able to arrange for yourself.

Clear (and dark) skies, Paul in FL


On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 9:26 AM, <meteors at comcast.net> wrote:

> Your problem is common among meteor observers - very few are fortunate
> enough to have dark skies in their backyard. In the 1990's I was able to
> observe from my yard, but then a 24-hour golf driving range was built
> about 10 miles away, ending that arrangement! Most observers I know
> travel to dark sky location such as national or state parks, forests, or
> overlooks. Travel time is often up to several hours one-way.
>
> Observing with skies under LM=5.0 is certainly possible, but as other
> have mentioned, your rates will suffer. In the past most groups
> preferred observations with LMs better than 5.0 to reduce the
> statistical errors in their calculations. NAMN is the only group that I
> can remember which routinely published these reports online. Nowadays I
> see meteor reports under full moon conditions.
>
> My suggestion is to continue using your backyard to hone your skills,
> and continually be on the search for a nearby dark sky location. A good
> place to start is state and national parks.
>
> I wish you luck!
>
> Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
> meteors at comcast.net
> namn at namnmeteors.org
>
> North American Meteor Network (NAMN)
> http://www.namnmeteors.org/
>
> On 12/27/2013 8:02 PM, pzeller1966 wrote:
> >    I have a question that I've been meaning to throw out to members of
> > this mailing list. First, to give a little background, I've gotten more
> > and more interested lately in making scientifically valuable visual
> > observations of meteor showers; both major and minor showers. I've been
> > reading about the methods used by the IMO for meteor counts and
> > plotting. However, while reading through the material available online,
> > I was a little disappointed to find out that visual observing is
> > discouraged if the limiting magnitude of the sky is 5.0 or less. Years
> > of amateur astronomy have taught me that my most transparent skies from
> > my back yard let me see stars as low as 4.5 - 4.8 magnitude with the
> > naked eye. I can very rarely see stars to 5.0 and my very best, darkest
> > nights have let me see stars to 5.2 magnitude. However, nights like this
> > are very rare! I've thought about trying to find a better observing site
> > further from the city lights, but this doesn't help if the night has
> > moonlight. I guess my question is this ... Can any useful visual
> > observing be done on nights when the limiting visual magnitude is 4.0 -
> > 4.5 or so? Useful enough to report to the IMO or other groups like NAMN?
> > All replies are welcome.
> >
> >    Thanks and good observing to all of you.
> >
> >    Paul Z.
> >    Indianapolis IN USA
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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