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(meteorobs) Re: perseids in 2003 hopefully better then 2002
A better Perseid shower for me would have higher rates regardless of
fireballs. I just want a recovery to pre-1991 levels. One earlier year
with no Perseid fireballs was 1972.
In 1984 with a full moon I saw Perseids at a rate of 9/hour for 3 hours.
The sky LM was 4.0 to 4.5 from the edge of town. Normal for LM 7.0 sky back
then was 40/hour, hence I was seeing only about 1/5 of the full rate. Every
19 years the moon phases and dates almost exactly coincide. Looking further
back another cycle, in 1965 with a full moon on Aug 12, I was flying home
from summer school at Florida State so skipped observing that night.
Assuming there is no change in Perseid strength in 2003, I would not expect
to see more than 5 or 6/hour. Much further north would have the advantage
of moon lower in the sky so LM's would be better than here. Only in my last
hour would the moon be low.
There is some clear weather going on now, as usual with a bright moon. I
did see the grazing occultation of Mars -- the grazeline passed over Fort
Myers. Went out to my usual site to get on the inner graze line, and ended
up with a 3-minute occultation. Always a bit of uncertainty on exactly
where to park the carcass to see these things. It took the moon about 5
minutes to slowly cover up Mars, and, of course, a similar time to uncover.
I could not easily see Mars within 3 arc-minutes of the moon, and lost it
completely at 2 arc-minutes. Some other people from St. Petersburg were
already set up there -- one of them I had not seen since 1979. Meteorwise
it was quite dead, I saw only one casually, and Joan also saw one.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
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