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RE: (meteorobs) Re: best Perseid site
I am a little confused. Which night and morning will be the best time
to view the Perseids? The night of the 11th and morning of the 12th or
the night of the 12th and the morning of the 13th. Our Astronomy Club
will be having a Meteor observing session at our observatory in Tulsa on
the night and the morning of the 12th and 13th, but if it is suppose to
be better the night of the 11th and morning of the 12th we need to
change our dates. I understand that the max comes at 2200UT which would
be 4p.m. CST on the 12th. If so would viewing be better before, the
morning of the 12th or after the night and morning of the 12th and 13th.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Comet - 1
David Stine
destine@exposquare.com
-----Original Message-----
From: nmcleod@peganet.com [mailto:nmcleod@peganet.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2002 7:16 PM
To: meteorobs@atmob.org
Subject: (meteorobs) Re: best Perseid site
The highest Perseid rates (max Aug 11/12) based on radiant altitude
should
come along latitude 45N. But losses from quite a ways further south are
marginal. Even at 25N the Perseid pre-dawn rate would still be 92% of
the
optimum. Going further down the loss increases more rapidly. So it is
up
to the weather to decide the best site.
Arizona is more chancy in August than at any other time of the year.
Monsoon season brings clouds and showers northward, and this can affect
much
of the Southwest and mountain regions. The upper Midwest and New
England
could be very good, if a cleansing cold front has just passed. The high
plains seem good on average, as well as much of California. Everywhere
else
is anybody's guess. Most of the eastern half has perpetual summer haze,
now
including Florida.
Up to 1976 the Florida Keys area was definitely one of the best sites
for
Perseids. The weather was consistently clear for years at the right
time,
combined with semi-developed remoteness insuring superb skies. I went
down
there every year from 1963 to 1981, excluding 1970. After 3 years in a
row
with bad weather, I gave it up. Now I just try to catch the Perseids
locally, not much further north.
For a few years the best meteor site anywhere had to be the old Bahia
Honda
Bridge in the Keys. Located 15 miles west of Marathon, the old bridge
was
still accessible after a new one was built. It rose to 50 feet above
the
water, with a hump in the middle to 65 feet. Observing on the bridge
was
mosquite-free most of the time, with balmy night breezes and black sky,
routinely magnitude limit 7.3 - 7.5. By about 1980 the end spans were
removed, tons of rock and debris had been dumped on the western
approach,
and Big Pine Key just west developed so much the sky was ruined. The
once-deserted highway at night also became busy all the time.
Someone last year asked about observing from the south end of Seven-Mile
Bridge. I suppose it would do in a pinch, but in the past I found it to
be
too close to Marathon.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
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