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(meteorobs) August 9, 2002 Meteor Observations from California
After a couple of hectic months of observing and not finding time to
share my data, I thought I had better make time to post these
observations leading up to the Perseid maximum. The skies have been
quite favorable so far this month. Unfortunately, due to an
uncooperative work schedule, I have been unable to get out until now. I
was planning to watch on Thursday morning but cirrus from the tropics
made their way up here and dashed any hopes of clear skies. These clouds
thinned during the day on Thursday giving optimism to the following
night. As I was driving out to my dark sky site the sky appeared
unimpressive. Upon arriving it appeared the sky was obscured by thin
cirrus. After speaking with Jim Foster he informed me that the winds had
changed direction and the smoke from nearby brush fires was now
overhead. As the morning progressed the smoke thinned and the sky
improved significantly. The Perseids were well represented providing
half of all the activity seen this morning. The Kappa Cygnids were also
surprisingly active providing 4 meteors. I was also surprised by the
inactivity of the Northern Apex radiant. There were a couple of possible
candidates from Bert Matous's Lacerta radiant. The highlight of the
session was a very slow first magnitude Kappa Cygnid spotted in the
south traveling from Sagitta down to Capricornus. It lasted an
impressive 4 seconds while traveling some 30 degrees.
August 9, 2002
0732-0835 UT 1.00 6.24 1 CAP 2 KCG 1 NDA 1 PER 1 SPO 6 TOTAL
0835-0938 UT 1.00 6.50 1 CAP 1 KCG 1 NDA 3 PER 2 SPO 8 TOTAL
0938-1043 UT 1.00 6.71 1 KCG 8 PER 1 SPX 4 SPO 14 TOTAL
1043-1149 UT 1.00 6.58 13 PER 1 SDA 1 SPX 7 SPO 22 TOTAL
TOTALS: 4.00 6.51 2 CAP 4 KCG 2 NDA 25 PER 1 SDA 2 SPX 14 SPO
50 TOTAL
The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
particular hour actually spent observing the sky. Time was lost for
plotting and data entry tonight. The third column gives the average
limiting magnitude estimated during each period. The last several
columns list the activity seen during each period. I was facing east at
an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were
taken. CAP = Alpha Capricornids, KCG = Kappa Cygnids, NDA = Northern
Delta Aquarids, PER = Perseids, SDA = Southern Delta Aquarids, SPX =
Southern Apex, and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).
Location: Deerhorn Valley 116 45' 21" W 32 41' 21" N ELE = 667 m
Bortle Scale Estimate: Class 4: Rural / suburban transition
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 62 F (17 C) 41%
Ending " " " 58 F (14 C) 42%
MAGNITUDES:
CAP: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.50
KCG: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (1) AVE: +3.00
NDA: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.50
PER: -1 (1) 0 (4) +1 (2) +2 (9) +3 (5) +4 (2) +5 (2) AVE: +2.08
SDA: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +3.00
SPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0) AVE: +4.00
SPO: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (3) +3 (2) +4 (5) +5 (3) +6 (0) AVE: +3.43
Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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