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(meteorobs) Re: July 12/13 meteors mostly dull
Had a clear night at last and observed 3:14 hours from 225 to 539 EDT (625 -
939 UT). 31 meteors recorded, sporadics mostly plotted : 4 South Delta
Aquarids, 3 Perseids, 2 Alpha Capricornids, 1 South Iota Aquarid, and 21
sporadics. Sky was LM7.3, and twilight just beginning about 520. That was
about the time of my final meteor.
Total hourly rates 226-526 EDT (626 - 926 UT) were 15,10,6. The first hour
did well, but then it all got worse instead of better. Was surprised at the
deadness of the last hour. Perseids and South Deltas both were
consistently 1/hr. Sporadics were rather bright, mostly +2m's and +3m's.
The best of the night was a 3-second white-yellow 0m Alpha Cap looking like
one shot from a roman candle. The plots turned up no radiants, even
combining 2 nights.
There was one outburst of 5 satellites in 5 minutes, pair-single-pair. Both
pairs were W-E and S-N movers ; the last pair both were +2m and closest
spacing was just 3 degrees. It is interesting to get 2 of them moving
perpendicularly and rooting for a close approach.
I was lucky it was clear, for inland at dawn revealed a lot of clouds. Some
were visible the whole time deep in my SE over the town of Immokalee.
Lightning this time was from coastal thundershowers near the barrier islands
in the Gulf of Mexico. And, of course, mosquitoes will be around until
November.
Norman W. McLeod III
Visual Program Coordinator
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com