(meteorobs) Perseids this morning in Iowa

[Bruce McCurdy]

I second that e-motion. I always enjoy Paul M’s reports, admire their consistency and matter-of-factness. 

 

Here in Alberta I’ve been dealing with iffy skies and other life obligations. Two nights ago I saw a single faint Perseid from my front deck (and one very nice kappa Cygnid), far behind my usual pace that in past years has always included a few Perseids before August even starts. 

 

Unless the weather forecast is dead wrong (again), I will be heading to the dark site tonight with plans to go out tomorrow for peak night as well. More to come, hopefully.

 

Bruce

***** 

 

From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org [mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Paul Jones
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 11:42 AM
To: Meteor science and meteor observing
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Perseids this morning in Iowa

 

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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