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(meteorobs) Re: Perseid 2001 prediction from Florida
The Perseid max looks promising from Florida with drier weather expected for
the next few days. I especially want to see it this year as the quadrennial
strong display is due from my continent in 2001. With the LQ moon
interfering, I expect to see a good display of 30-35 Perseids/hour. In a
dark sky I would expect around 68/hour, a very impressive level for my
perception. This is more than twice what I have been seeing in recent off
years. There are those with better meteor perception capable of seeing two
or more times these rates.
The four-year cycle that comes from what I have personally seen began in
1969. My best Perseid years have been 1969, 1977-78, 1981, 1988-89, and
1997. Sometimes the year before or after the peak year also comes up good.
Not every expected good year lives up to the trend. 1973 had a moon only a
day before full, and I didn't notice anything unusual for the conditions.
But 1974 was quite a surprise -- moon 2 days past LQ but a peak Perseid rate
of 40 despite the interference. 1985 should have been a top year but it was
only 50/hour, slightly better than my average (at that time) of 40.
From Tony Beresford :
> Can I use this opportunity to reiterate
>that satellite re-entries are far less common than bright fireballs, something
>most people dont realize.
That's for sure ! I have been observing meteors since 1960 and have yet to
see a spectacular satellite reentry. Have seen a number of small reentries,
bits of debris making long, slow, orange, fragmenting meteors, but few of
them brighter than second magnitude (like Big Dipper stars). There are
vastly more meteoroids out there than satellites.
From GeoZay:
>I agree with you and the book's account of that fire....except, I'd use the
>number 17 to represent perhaps the maximum number of firehouses since some
>stations may have doubled up? We have a few stations in our district with
>more than one engine...perhaps during that time period something similar was
>done?
No indication of that being the case. With a huge area to cover, a square
mile for each horse-drawn engine, they needed to spread them out. There
were other types of companies, without engines, and I would expect these
stations used fire lookouts also. If several engines had to go to one fire,
more distant engines would move up to cover unguarded parts of the city
temporarily.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
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