[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) RE: There Went The Perseids!
Hi Jodie,
I'm pleased to hear that you and the other 7 people enjoyed the meteor
watch. We are blessed to have a 6000 ft viewing site (Mt. Gleason) so close
to us here in LA County, even though it isn't quality dark skies. It was my
intent to share this event with as many people as possible, and to expose
them to an actual "meteor count". I believe we had three generations of
your family in attendance, didn't we? Tony and his son, Chris, have
unbelievably good eyesight. They caught anything and everything that moved
in the night sky. Their counts were much higher than anyone else, and they
were always the first to see and distinguish earth orbiting spacecraft
(total of 17)! I'm afraid that Tony appeared offended when I told him that
our combined observations probably won't be used for analysis by most
serious meteor organizations. I must admit that I failed to adequately
explain to him, how our group-verified count would not be preferred over a
solitary-observed count. I hope Tony's family will return for the Geminids
and Leonids.
I have to admit that I'm also pleased that my gamble, to start the
observation as soon as it got dark (9pm PDT Aug.12th), paid off big time
with everybody getting to see those 3 slow moving fireballs, low to the
East, between 9:00 and 10:00 PM PDT. The gamble was that the radiant was so
low at that time. But, Jodie, if you remember last year's Leonids, early on
when the radiant was low, that was when we saw all those fireballs with
their persistent trains. Although I posted that the Perseid peak would be
around 9PM for CA, most observers I know didn't start until midnight, so I
haven't heard of anyone confirming our "early fireball" observations. Nor,
have I seen any confirmation of our "pre-dawn" observation of an increase in
activity. (I wonder what the counts were like in Hawaii for that same time
period?) Your observed fireball (~1:30AM PDT) that skipped in and out and
left a 7+sec persistent train, low to the West, may have been seen by
observers in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, but once again, no
confirmation. And you're right, I missed that flurry of sporadics in the SE
(~1AM PDT 13th), because I purposely turned my back to that area of the sky,
not only to avoid the light pollution, but because a guy named "George" in
San Diego Co. is covering that area ;-)
Jodie, you asked if "anybody else saw all the stuff we did", and the answer
is yes for some of the "stuff", like "pale orange/yellow" trains! Having
observations like these being made by several different observers is very
important. Particularly by observers spaced some distance apart, but still
able to observe the same events. I hope by the time of the Leonids (Nov)
that we can have groups networked, e.g. our group at Mt. Gleason, one at Mt
Wilson, and another at Wrightwood, all connected by some means of
communications, but still reporting independently. If we continue to have
more people joining us on our "meteor watches", maybe this will happen.
Thanks for your message,
Bob V.
-----Original Message-----
From: jodie [mailto:jodie@loop.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 10:08 PM
To: Verish, Robert S
Subject: Re: There Went The Perseids!
Hi Bob,
Maybe suggest isn't strong enough. The count clearly indicates that we saw
approximately 53 meteorites from 3:50 -4:59. The 3rd peak was more than
just developing. More like it was in full swing. The count was higher
than our average of approximately 40/hour from 8:30pm to midnight.
Do you know if anybody else saw all the stuff we did? All those fire balls
early in the evening and early in the morning. It was strange that they
were so similar with their persistent trains lasting a 2-3 seconds, with
about 30-40 deg of arc. Almost like a cookie cutter. And a lot of them had
that split down the middle of the train. The were all the same color as
well, like a pale orange/yellow.
And, how about that little mini shower of sporadics that occured after 1am
just to the south of the Great Square in Pegasus. You kept missing them.
They were localized to that one area, didn't have persistent trains, were
quick, white, and not from the Perseus radiant. Would people see the same
stuff if they are far away from us?
Do you think anyone else saw that huge blue one about 1am, ( the time is on
the recording) that skipped and had a train of about 105 deg? The train
lasted about 7 seconds. I think the mag was about two times that of
Jupiter.
It was fun having all those people there working as a team to record the
data. Maybe we can do it again for the next one and maybe next time they
will stay until sunrise.
later,
Jodie
----------
> Robert Verish <bolidechaser@yahoo.com> on 08/11/99 wrote:
>
> Subject: Re: Here Come The Perseids!
>
> >Hello List,
> >
> >I've double checked this, and for us here in So. Cal. these are the
> >predicted peaks:
> >
> >1st peak - 21-23hr.UT 12Aug99 - or 13-15hr. PDT (or 3PM the 12th!)
> >2nd peak - 04-06hr.UT 13Aug99 - or 20-22hr. PDT (or 9PM the 12th!)
> >3rd peak - 13-15hr.UT 13Aug99 - or 05-07hr. PDT (or 6AM the 13th!)
> >
> >The "3rd peak" is very "iffy" because it was only first observed in
> >1997. But this would make anybody's meteor count during that period of
> >time even that more important.
>
> The following is a 2-hour meteor count taken just before dawn from the San
> Gabriel Mtns. in Southern California. This count suggests that a "3rd
peak"
> was developing at that time:
>
> 34deg. 23' Lat., 118deg. 10' Long.,
>
> Date Time (PDT) Count Limiting magnitude
> 13 Aug 99 3:50 - 3:59 a.m. 03 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:00 - 4:09 a.m. 03 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:10 - 4:19 a.m. 06+1Sporadic 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:20 - 4:29 a.m. 13 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:30 - 4:39 a.m. 11+2Sporadics 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:40 - 4:49 a.m. 12 6.5
> 13 Aug 99 4:50 - 4:59 a.m. 10 6.2
> 13 Aug 99 5:00 - 5:09 a.m. 05 5.6
> 13 Aug 99 5:10 - 5:19 a.m. 03 4.2
> 13 Aug 99 5:20 - 5:29 a.m. 01 3.5
> 13 Aug 99 5:30 - 5:39 a.m. 00 2.1
> 13 Aug 99 5:40 - 5:49 a.m. 00 ??
> 13 Aug 99 5:50 - 5:59 a.m. 00 ??
>
>
> P.S. - The Marshall Space Flight Center balloon failed to capture any
> meteoroid dust particles.
> "3:25 CDT -- The meteor balloon has landed after a shorter-than-expected
> flight. The balloon reached 62,000ft and then ruptured prematurely.
Payload
> recovery operations are underway."
>
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html