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(meteorobs) Perseid Meteor Report 12/13 Auguest, 2001

Perseid Meteor Report

Observers: Mark S. Williams, Tanya L. Gilley

Location: Elizabeth, IN. GC: 38.08.16 N, 85.56.06 W

Conditions: Clear, some haze. LM 5.3-4.7 (deteriorated as moon rose). Light
dome to Northeast over Louisville, KY 15 km to N.E.

Equipment: (visual) Nikon F-3 mounted  piggyback on NexStar 8 (for tracking
purposes only)
Kodak Elite Chrome 100 and Elite Plus 100 film.
(aural) ICOM 746 (VHF/HF Transceiver); Kenwood TS850 (HF Transceiver). ICOM
tuned to 55.250 MHz (TV channel 2 visual carrier), Kenwood tuned to WWV at
10 MHz. WWV audio fed to left channel, VHF audio (meteor "pings") fed to
right channel of Sony MDS-JE520 Minidisc recorder.
Sony SRF 7600 tuned to WWV for time at observing site, logging visual
observations and timing for photo exposures.

Observation periods:

    0346-0522 UT 13 Aug 01  (TEFF 1.45 hour /some lost time due to
camera/notes)
    0553-0613 UT 13 Aug 01 (TEFF .25 hour as above)
    0705-0946 UT 13 Aug 01 (TEFF 2.45 hour)

Breaks for film reload, snack and a few minutes observing M31 through
NexStar.

Observations:

TIME        DIRECTION        CONSTELLATION        MAG    COLOR        NOTES

07:15       S-N                        CAS-PERS                    2
WHITE
07:21       E-W                        URS-MINOR                  1
WHITE
07:25        N-S                        PERSEUS                    2
YELLOW
07:28        E-W                       URS MINOR                  2
WHITE
07:35        E-W                        LYRA                             3
YELLOW
07:37        N-S                        URS MINOR                   3
07:37        E-W                        URS MINOR                  2
WHITE
07:37        E-W                        URS MINOR                 3
YELLOW
07:42        NE-SW                    CYGNUS                    1
YELLOW
07:55        E-W                        URS-MINOR                0
WHITE
07:56                                        ZENITH
08:00        S-N                        PERSEUS                    2
WHITE
08:05        E-W                        HERCULES                3
YELLOW
08:10        S-N                        DRACO                        3
YELLOW
08:13        N-S                        TAURUS                       2
YELLOW
08:19        N-S                        URS MIN-DRA            3
YELLOW
08:23        S-N                        CAS                             3
08:52        S-N                        URS MIN-DRA            3
YELLOW
08:57        E-W                        DRACO                       2
YELLOW
09:08        S-N                        URS MINOR                4
YELLOW            SPORADIC?
09:21        N-SW                    SERPENS-OPHIC     2
WHITE
09:40        N-S                        PEGASUS                    1
WHITE
09:40        N-S                        PEGASUS                    0
WHITE
09:40        N-S                        PEGASUS                    1
WHITE
09:40        N-S                        PEGASUS                    1
WHITE
09:52        N-S                        CYGNUS

Comments:

Saturday night was a complete bust. After on and off cloudiness due to a
stalled  cool front we decided to "go for it" and set up all equipment
around 04 UT. Around 0530 low clouds and fog rolled in and we were finished
for the night!

Sunday night was much improved. Above mentioned  cool front moved south of
us and skies were very good for an August night in this region. Humidity was
much lower and seeing was fair. Milky way was clearly visible for most of
night, but conditions deteriorated as moon rose. TEFF was diminished as I
was operating the camera (I decided on 2 minute exposures given the light
dome to the Northeast). The night was capped off by the 4 Persieds that stre
amed through Pegasus after I had taken the camera down and was taking a last
look at M31 through the NexStar before calling it a night. Of course I went
inside and brought the camera back out, but the outburst ended with those 4!
We finished up by observing Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the Moon with
NexStar. Tanya saw M31 for the first time!

I have yet to transcribe the aural observations.

Special thanks to Bob Lunsford and Timo Leponiemi for their suggestions on
photo and observing techniques. I feel reasonably confident that we captured
perhaps 5 Perseids on film this outing. We'll report back on those results
when the come in.

Regards,

Mark

Mark S. Williams
k9gx@n4gn.com
Trustee: KY9IN
Kentuckiana Radiosport Association
Elizabeth, In
EM78ad

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