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(meteorobs) Perseids
Well,
Just want to say that I'm on my way out for the Perseid peak tonight..dot it
looks like it will be a good night...at the moment...so far the weatherman
has been all wrong about this weekend...I just hope he is wrong one more
night? After tonight, I plan on observing at least 3 and maybe 4 more
nights...after that I will have to give complete attention to my 2 daughters
wants...they have been good about being dragged up to grandma's place each
night so that I can observe...My wife is off on a 2 week back packing trek
from Tahoe to Yosemite...just so that I can observe the Perseids
unhindered...but she left the kids! What a plan! Anyhow, My oldest girl does
have some meteor interest...but she like's sleep a little better. She sleeps
on a cot next to me on top of the observatory...after midnight, when the
activity picks up I'm suppose to wake her up...she just rolls over and
watches for an hour. Poor Bob has to observe from down below...though I do
get to talk to him as I adjust my camera's about every 30 minutes ...or
sooner if I see a fairly brite one pass across it's field...don't want to
take a chance and mess it up somehow? On peak nite, I usually can see a few
Perseids right after dark...like around 8:30pm....the long earth grazer
kinds. The rates pick up gradually until midnight and things really kick in
gear after then...
Norman mentioned being very familiar with his plotting charts...I feel that I
am the same way with the IMO charts as does Bob. To accomodate the IMO charts
to the way I see the sky, I simply drew in a couple of lines to simply the
pattern...to tell the truth, sometimes I don't pay any attention to what is
drawn in any books to get constellation familiar...I extend lines where they
are naturally connected...I think it has something to do with Gestault
psychology? Don't know too much more about that Gestault, so please don't
try to drill me over it. Whatever it is, if it simplify things, do it...as
long as it don't change the measurements somehow.
Well, I'm off to see if I can get a full nite in. will post results in the
morning...perhaps after 11pm PDT.
George Zay