(meteorobs) Meteor Observations from Southern California August 5, 2014

[Robert Lunsford]

I observed on Tuesday morning from the slopes on Mt. Laguna overlooking Pine Valley. I overslept and arrived an hour later than intended. I was surprised to see the temperature dive as I gained altitude. It was in the mid-70's F when I left and I was in my normal summer attire of shorts and flip-flops. I was not prepared for the 55F temperature that greeted me upon arrival. I was smart enough to carry sweat pants and a sweater so I quickly put those on and crawled into the sleeping bag. There was a stiff wind from the north that made it feel even cooler. The cool temperatures was a nice change but it went a little too far for me. The first hour was nice and active. I think the cool temperature and the wind took their toll during the 2nd hour as counts fell by 1/3. Activity picked up a bit during the last 35 minutes but by 5:30 local time I was miserable and had had enough. Next time out I'll have to bring the heavy duty sleeping bag and a thicker jacket.

It's a shame I did not enjoy the session more as the sky was gloriously dark with diamond dust sprinkled right down to the horizon. This was surprising as the sky was clear right to the coast allowing the light dome of San Diego to glow in the west. The sky was amazingly transparent perhaps due to the rain that fell during the day and left puddles here and there. The Perseids had now overtaken the Delta Aquariids as the dominate shower. There was also a nice mix of everything else, even an Alpha Triangulid (aka Beta Perseid) which definitely missed the normal Perseid radiant and traced back to Algol. The Eridanids were still impressive but fainter than last week. the highlight of the night was a magnitude -4 Perseid early in the session (3rd meteor seen) that left a 5 second train.

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 55F (13C) / 55% - Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 48F (9C) / 49%

Time (UT)    Teff   LM 
 
0855-0955  1.00  7.05  ANT 1 ATR 1 CAP 3 ERI 1 PAU 0 PER 6 SDA 6 SPO 11 TOTAL 30 
 
0955-1055  1.00  6.81  ANT 2 ATR 0 CAP 1 ERI 1 PAU 0 PER 6 SDA 4 SPO 5 TOTAL 19 
 
1055-1130  0.58  6.69  ANT 0 ATR 0 CAP 0 ERI 2 PAU 1 PER 3 SDA 2 SPO 7 TOTAL 14 
 
Grand Total              ANT 3 ATR 1 CAP 4 ERI 4 PAU 1 PER 15 SDA 12 SPO 23 TOTAL 63
 
Magnitudes 
 
ANT: +4 (2) +5 (1) Mean: +4.30

ATR: +1 (1) Mean: +1.00 
 
CAP: +2 (2) +3 (1) +5 (1) Mean: +3.00 
 
ERI: +3 (2) +4 (2) Mean: +3.50 
 
PAU: +3 (1)  Mean: +3.00 
 
PER  -4 (1) -2 (1) -1 (1) 0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (3) +3 (5) +4 (1)  Mean: +1.33 
 
SDA: 0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (4) +3 (3) +4 (1) +5 (2)  Mean: +2.67 
 
SPO: -1 (1) 0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (5) +4 (8) +5 (5) Mean: +3.30 
 
Robert Lunsford 
Chula Vista, CA