(meteorobs) Perseids this morning in Iowa

[Paul Jones]

Hi Paul M.,
      I think you are doing a superb job with your observations, Paul.
Keep up the good work - don't change a thing!  With the exception of my
seeing a few more faint meteors due to my better sky conditions, I don't
think our observations are that far off from one another really.  If you
look at that 0730 - 0830 UT hour this morning, we had very similar results
indeed!
      There was a bit more of a disparity between us during the 0830 - 0930
hour, but again many of the PERs I saw that hour were probably too faint
for your skies.  If you compare our numbers in the brighter magnitudes,
again we are not that different.  Also, keep in mind that last hour was
your fourth hour out and only my second.  I know if it were me, my fatigue
drop off starting my fourth hour would have cut my observed rate down quite
a bit and probably would have been much closer to what you saw.  For being
out for four straight hours, you did superbly!  I so envy your stamina,
Paul.  I'm not sure I could even physically do four hours straight of
observing anymore...;o).  Even two for me is getting tough... (I turn 61 on
Aug. 16th).
      I also envy your amazing luck with seeing fireballs up there!  I seem
to rarely see them down here in Florida.  I think I may need to come up
there where you are sometime to catch a few of them myself!  I just don't
think fireballs like Florida much anymore.  I used to see them down here
all the time!  Maybe they had a bad experience on one of their vacations
down here...;o).  I mean, Disney World and Sea World just ain't for
everybody, you know...;o).
      Keep your awesome reports coming, Paul!  I for one appreciate them
very much.

All the best and happy hunting, Paul J in St. Augustine

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 12:07 PM, Paul Martsching <pmartsching at mchsi.com>
wrote:

> I went out for four hours this morning 01:30 - 04:30 am CDST at McFarland
> Park 4 miles NE of Ames, Iowa, with the following results.
>
> 0530 - 0630 UT 11 Aug 2015 64 deg; dew pt 60 deg; wind NW 3 mph; clear; LM
> 5.8; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
> Perseids: ten: - 2; - 1(2); 0(2); +1; +2(2); +3; +4
> Beta Perseid: one: +3
> Sporadics: two: +3(2)
> Total meteors: thirteen
>
> 0630 - 0730 UT 11 Aug 2015 63 deg; dew pt 60 deg; wind NW 6 mph; clear; LM
> 5.8; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
> Delta Aquarids: - 4; +3
> Eridanid: one: 0
> Perseids: six: - 3; -2; +1; +2; +3
> Sporadics: five: +2; +3(3); +4
> Total meteors: twelve
>
> 0730 - 0830 UT  11 Aug 2015 63 deg; dew pt 59 deg; wind NW 6 mph; clear;
> LM 5.7; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
> A Capricornid: one: 0
> Kappa Cygnid: one: +2
> Perseids: eighteen: - 4(2); - 3; 0(2); +1(3); +2(3); +3(5); +4(2)
> Sporadics: six: 0; +2; +3(4)
> Total meteors: twenty-six
>
> 0830 - 0930 UT 11 Aug 2015 62 deg; dew pt 59 deg; wind NW 8 mph; average
> LM 5.6; crescent Moon in East; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
> Eridanid: one: - 2
> Kappa Cygnid: one: +1
> Perseids: twelve: - 3; - 1; +1; +2(4); +3(4); +4
> Sporadics: four: +1; +3; +4(2)
> Total meteors: eighteen
>
> There were quite a few bright Perseids.  The second hour was slow.  From
> time to time during the entire session there were long lulls with no
> Perseids seen.   The longest duration train was 4 seconds from one of the -
> 4 Perseids.  The - 4 SDA came overhead from the South and was much too fast
> to be an Antihelion or Capricornid.  It had a very narrow wake and no train.
>
> It appears from other reports that I am missing a lot of faint Perseids
> because of not very good limiting magnitude.  At my age I can't "see" the
> sky better than about 6.2 no matter how good conditions really are, so
> while going to a darker site would help, I still would not see as many
> faint meteors as some other people can.  In spite of this, I will continue
> to go out and observe many of the more active showers as the weather
> permits.
>
> The weather forecast is very good for the next several nights.
>
> Paul Martsching in Iowa
>
>
>
>
>
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