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(meteorobs) Met. Obser. Aug 7/8 ZAYGE
My Meteor Observations for Aug 7/8, 1997...George Zay
Well...I headed out for my observatory with the expectations that the night
was gonna be a bust due to clouds. Upon my arrival, the clouds didn't look
like they were gonna cooperate. But by 22 hrs...the sky was completely
clear...not a cloud in sight. I felt quite rested and decided to start my
watch an hour earlier...at 6h51UT(22h51 PDT) from Descanso, Calif. My rates
didn't improve at all from it...only saw 7 meteors total that hour. But in
the end...I only managed 4.55 Teff hours...dot because near 1 am the clouds were
meandering their way towards me from the south...so for the next hour as a
precaution, I turned my viewing in the opposite direction facing North. After
an hour, the south was completely cleared again...so once again I turned
around facing my preferred direction for the night. All was fine and dandy
until I noticed that the clouds were moving in on me once again. By 10h33
UT(3h33PDT), I decided that my observing nite was over lest I had to
introduce some blockage into my observations....later it got worse and the
whole sky was essentially covered. My overall impression on meteor activity
was that the rates were about the same as the night before last when I first
noticed a definite increase. However, the S. Delta Aquarids dropped off
considerably...only saw one of those puppies. The brightest meteor was a -1
Perseid. The weather prediction for tonight isn't good...possible
thunderstorms in the mountains...instead of roughing it out...I've decided to
declare tonight a day of rest and start again during the periods of expected
higher activity beginning tomorrow night a little fresher. This mornings
shower breakdown is as follows:
Perseid = 25
S. Delta Aquarid = 1
N. Delta Aquarid = 6
alpha Capriconrid = 2
S. Iota Aquarid = 3
Piscis Austrinid = 0
kappa Cygnis = 0
Sporadics = 26
Hourly breakdowns:
5h51-6h53= 0 PER, 1SDA, 2NDA, 1CAP, 1SIA, 0PAU, 0KCG, 2 sporadic
Teff hours = 1.0
6h53-7h55 = 3PER, 0SDA, 2NDA, 0CAP, 0SIA, 0PAU, 0KCG, 5Sporadic
Teff hours = 1.0
7h55-9h00 = 8PER, 0SDA, 1NDA, 0CAP, 0SIA, 0PAU, 0KCG, 5 Sporadic
Teff hours = 1.0
9h00-10h33 = 14 PER, 0SDA, 1NDA, 1CAP, 2SIA, 0PAU, 0KCG, 13 Sporadic
Teff hours = 1.55