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(meteorobs) Meteor Obs. July 19/20, WVa
Screech Owl Hill Observatory, Mountain Meadows, West Virginia
Lat. 385710N Lon. 0785544W - July 19/20, 2003
After a rainy month with no meteor observing in June, I was finally able
to get up to the mountains to Screech Owl Hill Observatory in West Virginia
for a good night of observing. The meteor rates were pretty good until the
moon rose higher and reduced the number seen, but in a three hour period, from
4 to 7 UT, I saw 31 meteors. There was some fairly good activity from the
Alpha Cygnids, Aquarid complex, and Capricornid complex; plus I saw my first
Perseid meteors of the season.
The best meteor was seen casually, when around 8:30 UT, I saw a -6 Alpha
Capricornid bolide that had a red-pink trail that looked like a train after
it exploded (I didn't see it before that). I was lucky to see it, as I had
just finished looking for the supernova in M74, and when I was coming down the
ladder of the 20-inch scope, the bolide burst had just caught my eye, and I
was able to turn and see it. It was low in the NW; only about 3 degrees above
the horizon. Very nice! A short time later, Mars looked good in the 20-inch
scope, as the seeing improved when some thick haze moved in. Below is a short
breakdown of the meteors seen.
Date Time (UT) LM CAP ANT ACG PER NDA SDA NPX SPX SPO FOV Comments
July 19/20 4:00-5:00 6.2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 4 21.3+42 moon@4:28
July 19/20 5:00-6:00 6.0 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 21.6+40 moon
July 19/20 6:00-7:00 6.0 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 00.2+58 moon
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July 19/20 4:00-7:00 6.1 4 5 4 3 1 3 2 1 8 var. moon
GWG
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