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(meteorobs) My first Kappa-Cygnid
Was out photographing ISS+Discovery pass over Moscow at 22:50-22:55 MST
(18:50-18:55 UT) and stayed for 10 minutes more waiting for Iridium -1
"flare" between Perseus and Cassiopaea. Saw two meteors: 2nd magnitude
Perseid under Polaris and beautiful yellow Cygnid of -1 mag. I guess
I'm becoming a fond of Cygnids after this night! You can really _watch_
these meteors - trace them, follow them and see the details. Not like
Perseids or, say, Leonids. If weather permits I will go to countryside
this Friday to catch the maximum.
By the way, members and guests of Moscow Astronomy Club were gathering
in Zvenigorod (70 km west from city) to observe Perseids on August
11/12. Weather was expected to be poor, still 15 enthusiasts with 9
scopes were present. On average, sky was only about 30 per cent clear.
There was even some rain for a few minutes. Of course, no formal
reports were made under these circumstances, yet people were testing new
telescope watching doubles, Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon. So effective
individual meteor observing time was hardly an hour or 1.5 hours at
best. Activity was low even during the clear periods. Personally, I
saw 8 meteors, 6 of them being Perseids. The brightest was -0.5 mag
near zenith. Two sporadics appeared almost simultaneosly with another
Perseid. We were out from 22:00 till 4:30 MST (18:00 UT Aug. 11 - 00:30
UT Aug. 12) with rain break. Last night (Aug. 12/13) was lost due to
complete overcast and rain. In general, one of the most disappointing
Perseids maxima I ever seen since 1985.
Looking forward to seeing more Cygnids,
Denis http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~denis/astro.html
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