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(meteorobs) Re: NWM Florida Perseids cloudy
No Perseids seen here. I had a brief clearing to the west around
mid-morning of Aug 11/12 but it soon clouded up again. A bunch of
stationary rain showers earlier left their debris sitting around all night.
The next night was somewhat better but the moon was rather orange. I didn't
attempt observing then either.
It sounded like a normal Perseid max to me. With a full moon in the past I
usually saw 9/hour Perseids. This year's moon wasn't much better. Maximum
should have come over Hawaii, judging by the good shower I saw last year.
Next year it will be the Far East's turn with the westward shift of about 6
time zones per year.
From Lew:
>... the electrophonic effect! I've observed it twice myself, and
>have heard many observers mention it. But there are a few folks, including
some
>quite prominent on our list, who have NOT observed it themselves and therefore
>dismissed it as a "psychological effect".
I haven't experienced this yet, nor have I been lucky enough to hear delayed
sonic booms. The most believable cases are those that get someone's
attention who isn't looking up at the time. I don't know how to sort out
the real vs. imaginary cases where someone actually sees the meteor. My
mother says she heard one when she was very young -- must have been around
1920 or so. My friend Rick was messing around with some microwave equipment
in the chemistry lab with some students a few years ago, and they "heard"
some popping-crackling sounds. There are mechanisms to induce "sounds" in
ears.
Lew again:
>... I myself have seen meteors that appeared to have
>curled, kinked, and even intertwined TRAINS - but I've never seen a meteor
>whose TRAIL (i.e., path in the sky) actually curved...
Same goes for me. But the trains would take a little time to achieve these
effects. Meteors that emit bright bursts as they are producing a train
leave knots in the train at the burst sites. An Alpha Cap I saw last month
with 3 bursts left a train with 3 knots.
For high latitudes, I would expect early evening Perseid rates to be higher
than with a waning gibbous moon later at night. The radiant still has some
decent elevation all night north of about latitude 45N. Down here at 26N
the radiant is below the horizon for about the first dark hour. I saw a
grazing Perseid early on 1972 Aug 11/12 go 90 degrees in some twilight with
the radiant just below the horizon, my longest ever.
If the evening of Aug 18 is clear I would like to go out early for the
infamous Kappa Cygnids -- more than one in an hour is always rather
interesting with slow meteors. I recall only one time seeing 3 in an hour.
Norman