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(meteorobs) First few nights of meteors
Here are some notes on my first three nights of chasin' meteors. I
was out again this morning, but clouds chase me to
bed after about 1.25 hours. I haven't gotten last night's meteors on
disk yet.......but I shall.
I am a bit surprised that some folks are a bit surprised that the
Perseids are already acitive. I have been catching one
or so an hour from early July onward for the past several years. By
mid-July - now - 2 or 3 an hour are not uncommon.
My first few nights...............
The 9 meteors I picked up during a June camping trip were a bit like
sniffing the sauce simmering on the stove: dinner
wasn't ready, but it was time to set the table.
The early July nights were a parade of taste-tempting clear
skies. However, a pregnant moon bleached
out the stars. By the 6th, Luna was losing weight and rising later.
My wife decided this was a clear sky
which demanded to shine down on our prone bodies. So, by 12:50 (4:40
UT) on the 7th I was plotting
my first meteor; a faint sporadic.
We gave the heavens 1 hour to pique our interest. In that time I
picked up 5 meteors. One, at 1:40
(5:40 UT), I recorded as my first Perseid. It was white, magnitude
+1.0
Clouds, threats of rain and a wretched excuse of storm (after a
record-setting spring for wet, our
garden was rained on once between June 11 and July 11), the starry
sky returned on the 9th, the
atmosphere dry and cool. At 12:42 (4:42 UT) on the 10th I was back at
it.
Central Ohio skies are rarely so clear during the summer, and
this night's stars were gems,
glittering across the vast empty darkness, gathering into dense
clumps as they settled into the silvery
ribbon of the Milky Way.
I managed to stay awake till 2:10 (6:10 UT). As I held sleep at
bay, I counted 14 more meteors.
The Capricornids and Aquarids were both evident, the former
spilling 5 meteors across the sky, the latter 3.
I caught another single Perseid; a dim white flash. I also had 3
sporadics and 2 Sagittarids.
The following night was every bit as breathtaking.
I began tallying meteors at 1:44 (5:44 UT) on the 11th, plucking
20 down from the stars by the time
I stopped at 4:00 (8:00 UT).
Of those 20 meteors, 2 were Perseids, 7 were Aquarids, 3 were
Capricornids, and the rest were sporadics.
The highlight of the night came at 3:02 (7:02 UT) when a -3.0
sporadic fell along the side of Perseus.
It was orange-ish, and rather than displaying a train, it's "exhaust"
seemed to reflect the bright glow of the meteor.
It took about 3 second to fall 20 to 25 degrees.
A -2.0, white Capricornid meteor observed earlier displayed a
train which lasted 3 seconds.
And though my wife was unable to free herself of the intense
gravity of somnolence, I was not alone out
there. A screech owl and a toad engaged in debate for a short while.
And later, as I rose to gather up my
sleeping bag, a deer huffed and snorted petulantly as it jogged
nearby.
Date and Time (UT) Teff F LMag Perseids
Sporadics Cap's Aqud's Sagttd's Total
July 7 4:50 0.993055 1.205 5.5 1
4 0 0 0
5
July 10 4:42 0.780373 1 6
1 3 5 3
2 14
July 11 5:44 0.990277 1 6
0 3 2 2
0 7
6:44 1.248610 1 6
2 5 1 5
0 13
Totals: 4.012317
4 15 8 10
2 39
Avg per Hour:
0.996930 3.738488 1.993860 2.492325 0.498465 9.720069
BTW, I have been counting a Perseid or 2 a night from early July on
over the past everal years. By mid-Month ---now ---
rates climb to 2 or so an hour (rather than a night)......
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