(meteorobs) Perseids peak from central Alberta

Bruce McCurdy bmccurdy at shaw.ca
Thu Aug 13 23:58:27 EDT 2015


Had a successful night observing the 2015 Perseids with a group of family,
friends, and fellow astronomers (most of whom fill more than one category).
Six of us - Ross Sinclair, Alister Ling, Sharon Morsink, Sherrilyn Jahrig,
Kevin McCurdy and myself -- rented a van and headed for clear skies
southeast of Edmonton. We eventually wound up in a quiet agricultural area
in east-central Alberta, where we saw all of one car in five hours, but were
visited by a galaxy of mosquitoes who made life uncomfortable at times.
Later found out the area is absolutely covered with sloughs and small lakes,
plenty of standing water for the vicious little critters to breed
exponentially or so it seemed. 

I spent about 45 minutes setting up for a (marginally successful) photo
shoot before sitting in to do a serious count just before midnight local
time = 06h UT on the 13th. Skies were pristine other than a few clouds that
stayed near the northern horizon throughout, and a minor aurora that kicked
up, also in the north. However, as the night wore on the horizons became
hazier and some haloes were occasionally in evidence.

In four hours Teff (effective observing time) I observed a total of 157
meteors, of which 137 were Perseids. On average the shower seemed bright
with an average magnitude a shade brighter than +1.0. However, I often found
my own estimates to be a notch brighter than others in my group when we
observed the same meteor, suggesting my calibration might be off a tad,
especially on the brighter meteors. I also did fairly poorly seeing some of
the fainter meteors, another sign of deteriorating eyesight at an advancing
age. 

In all I recorded 34 meteors in the negative magnitudes, though only three
in the fireball class of -4 or brighter. Best of these was a -6 magnitude
beauty that seared eastern Perseus in pure white, leaving a train that
persisted for about 6 seconds. There was also a gorgeous -5 mag streaker
that left distinct tinges of both blue and gold that was corroborated by at
least one other observer along with a broken train that took a few seconds
to fade along its various segments. 

In general meteors weren't very colourful, but with a couple of nice
exceptions. A very good percentage left persistent trains. Several seemed to
be "double" meteors or "skippers" that brightened, faded, then brightened a
second time. These were noted at various times by pretty much all members of
the group. 

Among us we observed a large number of satellites including a number of
tumblers, one of which was among the most active such I have ever seen with
several dozen bright flashes during its pass including several of negative
magnitude. 

Clouds started to intervene and the sky murked out around 04:00 local time,
and we soon packed and left, eventually arriving home after 06:00, a
ten-hour journey that was worth every minute of it. 

This was my 28th consecutive year of observing the Perseids from a dark site
for an extended session within 24 hours, plus or minus, of the peak.  One of
the better displays of any shower that I personally have observed in several
years. 

Bruce
*****

PS: My official count submitted to International Meteor Organization is
below:

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce McCurdy [mailto:bmccurdy at shaw.ca] 
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 9:28 PM
To: IMO report forms
Cc: bmccurdy at shaw.ca
Subject: Electronic visual form for 2015-8-13

// Header section
night    	 2015-08-12/13
begin    	 2015-08-13 0547
end      	 2015-08-13 1008
observer	 "Bruce" "McCurdy" "MCCBR"
location	 112 12 17 W, 52 54 14 N
site    	 "Near Daysland, AB" "Canada"
reporter	 "bmccurdy at shaw.ca"

// Shower section
shower	PER 046 +58
shower	BPE 047 +37
shower	KCG 286 +59
shower	SDA 339 -16
shower	AUD 261 +63
shower	ANT 329 -10
shower	SPO 

// Number section
// 	Interval  	RA  	Dec 	Teff 	F    	Lm  	   PER
BPE 	   KCG 	   SDA 	   AUD 	   ANT 	   SPO 
period	0547-0617 	345 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.20	 C  17 	 C
0 	 C   0 	 C   1 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   1 
period	0617-0647 	352 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.20	 C  14 	 C
0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   1 	 C   1 	 C   3 
period	0647-0717 	000 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.10	 C  14 	 C
1 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   3 
period	0718-0748 	008 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.10	 C  16 	 C
1 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   2 
period	0754-0824 	015 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.00	 C  17 	 C
1 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   1 
period	0825-0900 	025 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	6.00	 C  23 	 C
0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   3 
period	0902-0932 	033 	+50 	0.500 	1.00 	5.90	 C  23 	 C
0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   1 
period	0932-1008 	040 	+50 	0.500 	1.25 	5.50	 C  13 	 C
0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 	 C   0 

// Magnitude section
//          	Show	Interval     -6    -5    -4    -3    -2    -1    +0
+1    +2    +3    +4    +5    +6    +7    Tot
distribution	PER 	0547-0617     -     -   1.0     -   1.0   2.0   1.0
2.0     -   4.0   6.0     -     -     -   17.0
distribution	PER 	0617-0647     -     -     -   1.0   1.0   1.0   4.0
3.0   2.0   2.0     -     -     -     -   14.0
distribution	PER 	0647-0717   1.0     -     -     -   2.0     -   3.0
2.0   2.0   2.0   1.0   1.0     -     -   14.0
distribution	PER 	0718-0748     -     -     -     -   2.0   3.0   2.0
4.0   1.0   4.0     -     -     -     -   16.0
distribution	PER 	0754-0824     -     -     -     -   2.0   3.0   5.0
2.0   4.0   1.0     -     -     -     -   17.0
distribution	PER 	0825-0900     -     -     -   1.0     -   2.0   2.0
6.0   5.0   6.0   1.0     -     -     -   23.0
distribution	PER 	0902-0932     -   1.0     -   1.0   1.0   2.0   2.0
5.0   4.0   4.0   3.0     -     -     -   23.0
distribution	PER 	0932-1008     -     -     -     -     -   3.0   4.0
1.0   3.0   1.0   1.0     -     -     -   13.0
distribution	BPE 	0547-1008     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
1.0   2.0     -     -     -     -     -    3.0
distribution	SDA 	0547-1008     -     -     -     -     -   1.0     -
-     -     -     -     -     -     -    1.0
distribution	AUD 	0547-1008     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
-   1.0     -     -     -     -     -    1.0
distribution	ANT 	0547-1008     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
-   1.0     -     -     -     -     -    1.0
distribution	SPO 	0547-1008     -     -     -     -     -   2.0   1.0
2.0   2.0   6.0   1.0     -     -     -   14.0

// Personal comments
Showers include AMS-recognized Beta Perseids (BPE), August Draconids (AUD)
and Anthelions (ANT).
Kappa Cygnid radiant was monitored but no members observed (others in my
group did spot a few)
Southern radiants not well monitored, but one member each of ANT and SDA
identified. 

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