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(meteorobs) Perseids Aug 12/13

I managed a whopping 1 1/2 hours of sleep yesterday. I arrived home from
work around noon and had planned to sleep until dinnertime.
Unfortunately I had to take my son to the dentist at 2pm so I squeezed
in an hour and a half before leaving. I tried to sleep upon returning
but could not. I had tickets for a concert Thursday evening and my
daughter really wanted me to take her so I did. 

Once I got back home I drove straight to the mountains and managed to
get in 4 full hours.  I was suppose to meet Joseph Assmus up there but
there were so many people I could not find him. I watched from the Pine
Valley Viewpoint which is higher in altitude than my normal site. to my
surprise the weather was balmy (mid 60's) and very dry with a nice
breeze.

The first hour 1-2am was quite active with perhaps 45 Perseids being
seen. By the way, I have not listen to my tape yet. The 2nd and 3rd
hours were much like Pierre described, occasional bursts but some very
dull moments. Rates seemed no better than 30/hr.

This all changed at 4am. Right at the top of the hour a sudden burst of
activity occurred and it continued for most of the hour. I would bet
that fewer than 5 minutes had no activity. Many minutes had several. A
family arrived nearby at 4:30 and I chuckled to myself that they wasted
their time arriving so late as there was only 1/2 hour of darkness left.
The kids were soon treated to a nice blue -6 Perseid fireball with a one
minute train. They were excited as they could not have timed it any
better. I would estimate that I saw 85 Perseids between 4-5 am and
probably 15 sporadics/Aquarids to total 100 for the hour. It was very
entertaining and more than made up for the slow middle hours.

Sorry to hear of the clouds that plagued the rest of you. As for
tonight, if I can't get any sleep, then I'm grounded. I'll play the tape
as soon as a spare minute arrives!

Joseph, sorry I missed you. I hope you were watching!

Bob Lunsford
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