[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) August 11, 2002 Meteor Observations from California
Saturday was warm and humid along the coast. It was very hot and dry
inland. My observing spot must have been over 100F during the afternoon.
The sky was hazy most of the day due to continued smoke from the local
brush fires. Late afternoon had some high level moisture in the form of
cirrostratus clouds. That was very depressing! I checked the satellite
picture and noticed this was a temporary setback and that the clouds
would soon move out. When I arrived at my observing sight the sky was a
bit hazy, but otherwise clear. I could not believe how warm it still
was! The asphalt driveway was still warm from the day's heat. The air
above it was also nice and toasty. I gave the thermometer (located on
top of the truck cab) 30 minutes to settle. At 12:17am it read 71F which
is near a record high for observing sessions. It must be remembered that
just a few years back I had frost during the Perseids. I like these
temperatures better!
Activity was impressive right from the start. There were a couple of
long lulls during the first two hours but activity really took off
during the middle hour. The Perseids were impressive with rates
approaching 30/hr. There were 6 Perseids of negative magnitudes, the
best being a double burst -5 yellow fireball in Cetus that left a 20
second train. 21 of the 90 Perseids seen had persistent trains.
The remainder of the showers produced nothing of note rate wise. There
was a blue -4 Alpha Cap fireball low in the north that was impressive.
The Northern Apex radiant came back to life tonight producing 6 swift
meteors. The Southern Apex was also active averaging one meteor per hour.
I was actually lucky to get this session in as there was another large
blob of moisture just to my south. Another few miles to the north and I
would have been looking at the bottom of the clouds. The sky gods were
kind tonight! Let's see how I rate again tonight.
August 11, 2002
0647-0747 UT 1.00 6.68 1 NDA 9 PER 1 NPX 6 SPO 17 TOTAL
0747-0847 UT 1.00 6.70 1 CAP 8 PER 1 NDA 1 SDA 1 NPX 5 SPO 17 TOTAL
0847-0947 UT 1.00 6.64 1 CAP 3 KCG 3 NDA 20 PER 1 SDA 1 NPX 2 SPX
14 SPO 45 TOTAL
0947-1047 UT 1.00 6.59 29 PER 1 SDA 3 NPX 2 SPX 12 SPO 47 TOTAL
1047-1147 UT 1.00 6.54 24 PER 1 SPX 11 SPO 36 TOTAL
TOTALS: 5.00 6.63 2 CAP 3 KCG 4 NDA 90 PER 2 SDA 6 NPX 5 SPX
48 SPO 162 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. A cassette recorder
was used to record data tonight so no time was lost recording. 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 northeast 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, NPX = Northern Apex, 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 3: Rural Sky
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 71 F (22 C) 14%
Ending " " " 67 F (19 C) 21%
MAGNITUDES:
CAP: -4 (1) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0) AVE: +0.50
KCG: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0) AVE: +3.33
NDA: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +3.00
PER: -5 (1) -3 (1) -2 (3) -1 (1) 0 (4) +1 (10)
+2 (22) +3 (25) +4 (15) +5 (7) +6 (1) AVE: +2.19
SDA: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +3.00
NPX: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (3) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (1) AVE: +3.50
SPX: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (1) +6 (0) AVE: +3.20
SPO: 0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (7) +3 (13) +4 (14) +5 (7) +6 (4) AVE: +3.54
Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
To stop getting all email from the 'meteorobs' lists, use our Webform:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html