(meteorobs) Perseids from SoCal

[Robert Lunsford]

I drove 50 miles eastward to view the Perseid maximum from the western slopes of Mt. Laguna. The sky was clear but there was no marine layer stratus to block the city lights of San Diego. Therefore the western sky was awash in the glow of San Diego. I faced due north at an elevation of 50 degrees. I could not face eastward as the hills in that direction would have blocked at least 20 degrees of sky. So I had some skyglow to my left and some hills to the right but facing halfway up gave me some impressive sky. 

I started viewing at 12:20 PDT (7:20 UT). The first 40 minutes was plagued by cars driving in and out of the parking area and shining their headlights everywhere. Still, I managed to count 16 Perseids and 1 Anthelion meteor. 

The second period (1:00-2:00 PDT or 8:00-9:00 UT) provided me with a mean limiting magnitude of 6.45 and a total of 53 meteors. 44 of these meteors were Perseids. The highlight of this hour and of the night was a teardrop shaped -5 Kappa Cygnid. It was brilliant white with some fragments too. 

The third period (2:00-3:00 PDT or 9:00-10:00 UT) had a mean limiting magnitude of 6.51 and a total of 47 meteors. This period was interrupted for 9 minutes for some warmer clothing and a 15 minute break to consume a couple of carne asado burritos that some nearby folks were grilling (yes this was at 2am right in the middle of nowhere!). It was about this time the wind began picking up out of the south with some gusts reaching 20mph. This was the reason for some warmer clothes even though the temperature was still around 70F. 

The fourth period (3:00-4:00 PDT or 10:00-11:00 UT) was uninterrupted with a mean limiting magnitude of 6.54. I managed to count 72 meteors, 60 of them being Perseids. It was during this period I saw my only 2 Eta Eridanids fo the night. The wind continued to blow hard and I had to hold the recorder close to make certain it was functioning properly. Even though I held the microphone closely it was still difficult to hear my recordings due to the addition of wind noise. 

The fifth and final period (4:00-5:00 PDT or 11:00-12:00 UT) was interrupted for two 5 minute periods by a malfunctioning lounge chair that caused me to shift my field of view another 20 degrees higher. Luckily it held together the remainder of the night but totally collapsed when I tried to exit it. Despite the 10 minute loss I was still able to count 60 meteors, 52 of them being Perseids. It was during this period that he brightest Perseid was seen. It was a short magnitude -4 that shot just above Cassiopeia. It had an impressive train that lasted a surprising 30 seconds. 

Overall the Perseids were impressive. To me the average Perseid was a 2nd magnitude dart that was about 5 degrees long. A lot of them shot in and around Ursa Minor, which was just below the center of my field of view. There seemed to be more persistent trains on 2nd and 3rd magnitude Perseids than usual. All the colored meteors tonight were either orange or yellow with a great majority of them being orange. There may have been some minor shower activity from the south (behind me) but I just called most of them sporadic as I would have missed too many Perseids while tracking their path back to their origins. I did not notice any Beta Perseids as also indicated by Paul Martsching this morning.
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Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 15-Aug 13 Mean Solar Long: 140.121
Beginning Time (UT) 0720 Ending Time (UT) 1200
Total TeFF: 4.10

LOCATION: Pine Valley Viewpoint, CA, USA
LONG: 116 29' 47" W LAT: 32 49' 39" N
Elevation: 1300 m Bortle Scale: Class 3: Rural Sky
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 71F - 49%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 66F - 57%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape
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Showers Observed

ANT  22:12 (333) -09     01-00-00-00-00     01 Total
ERI   03:04 (046) -09     00-00-00-02-00     02 Total
KCG 19:04 (286) +59    00-02-00-00-00     02 Total
PER  03:04 (046) +58    16-44-40-60-52     212 Total
SPO                                   00-07-07-10-08      32 Total
Total Hourly Counts        17-53-47-72-60     249 Total
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Period 1   0720-0800 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.38
FOV 320 +70   TOTAL TeFF: 0.67
Mean Solar Long: 140.037

Meteor Data:
ANT 1, PER 16  TOTAL 17

Magnitude Distribution
ANT  +2 (1) Mean +2.00
PER  0 (2) +1 (3) +2 (4) +3 (3) +4 (1) +6 (1)  Mean +1.88
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Period 2   0800-0900 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.45
FOV 330 +70   TOTAL TeFF:1.00
Mean Solar Long: 140.073

Meteor Data:
KCG 2 , PER 44, SPO 7  TOTAL 53

Magnitude Distribution
ANT  +2 (1) Mean +2.00
PER  0 (2) +1 (3) +2 (4) +3 (3) +4 (1) +6 (1)  Mean +1.88
SPO  +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (1)  Mean + 2.86
----------------------------

Period 3   0900-1000 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM +6.51
FOV 345 +70   TOTAL TeFF: 0.60
Mean Solar Long: 140.113

Meteor Data:
PER 40, SPO 7  TOTAL 47

Magnitude Distribution 
PER  0 (2) +1 (3) +2 (4) +3 (3) +4 (1) +6 (1)  Mean +2.78
SPO  +1 (1) +2 (3) +3 (1) +4 (2)  Mean + 2.57
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Period 4   1000-1100 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.54
FOV 000 +70   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 140.153

Meteor Data:
ERI 2, PER 60, SPO 10  TOTAL 72

Magnitude Distribution 
ERI  +2 (1) +3 (1) Mean +2.50
PER  -3 (1) -1 (3) 0 (5) +1 (17) +2 (11) +3 (12) +4 (5) +5 (6)  Mean 
SPO  +3 (6) +4 (4)  Mean+3.40
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Period 5   1100-1200 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.46
FOV 015 +50   TOTAL TeFF: 0.83
Mean Solar Long: 140.193

Meteor Data:
PER 52, SPO 8  TOTAL 60

Magnitude Distribution 
PER  -4 (1) -3 (1) 0 (2) +1 (12) +2 (16) +3 (16) +4 (3) +5 (1)  Mean +1.96
SPO  +2 (2) +3 (4) +4 (2)  Mean +3.00
----------------------------

Total Magnitude Distribution
ANT +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
ERI  +2 (1) +3 (1)  Mean +2.50
PER -4 (1) -3 (2) -2 (2) -1 (4) 0 (14) +1 (44) +2 (53) +3 (48) +4 (26) +5 (16) +6 (2)  Mean +2.23
SPO +1 (2) +2 (7) +3 (12) +4 (9) +5 (2)  Mean +2.81