I was at the Boy Scout camp at East Fork of the Bear River on Thursday, the 13th, ostensibly to give the boys a thrill at viewing stars, nebulae and globulars at a dark sky site. Even though the viewing lasted from 9:30 to 10:30, there were a number of colorful grazers that streaked across at least 120 degrees of sky. The tails ranged from orange to a blue. The boys were impressed. Then in came some thunderheads along with lightning that ended the viewing at about 10:45. --- On Thu, 8/13/09, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote: From: Kim <kimharch@cut.net> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Perseids To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 8:55 PM HI all. I went up to the Skyline Drive above Fairview (about 9,500 feet elevation) to see some Perseids, both last night and the night before, but this is the first chance that I’ve had to report my experiences. I hope y’all don’t mind if I share. WARNING: The commentary that follows is a bit lengthy. Due to interference from the moon this year I didn’t expect much, but since I love to watch meteor showers anyway, I decided to go see what was up (no pun intended).Tuesday evening my family went with me. We arrived at about 10:00; the air was warm, with no wind or clouds and above average transparency and seeing. We had about an hour without interference from moonlight, but even after moonrise we continued to see a few meteors. Between five of us looking in different directions, I’d say that we saw perhaps two dozen Perseids. We did see one bolide that traversed about one third of the sky toward the south. This was not a serious observing trip but a family outing, and we made no formal observations or records of our experience. Last night I had a scheduled trip with the boy scouts, but we went to the same spot. We began observing after dinner, around 9:30, and I finally quit about 12:30. Except for some wind, the conditions were similar to the night before, but this time the sky put on quite a show. We probably saw two to three times as many meteors as on Tuesday night, but most were much brighter, we saw no fewer that a dozen bolides, the brightest of which easily rivaled Jupiter. In fact, it passed just “above” Jupiter, had a distinctly greenish hue, and left a train that lasted for several seconds. At about 10:29 we witnessed a sudden surge in activity that reminded me of the Leonid storm of 2001 (or was it 2002?). Within about 10 seconds, we saw four bolides (maybe mag -5 or -6. I have a hard time estimating brightness that exceeds the brightest stars), all traveling in the same direction, to the south. About 30 seconds later another bolide similar to the previous four followed the same path to the south. Each of these five left a persistent train. Even after moonrise we continued to see a number of bolides. I’m surprised by the ho-hum reports of this year’s Perseid shower, and especially the equally unenthusiastic remarks about meteor showers in general. I’ve shared the following experiences with this group before, but I want to repeat them so that newer observers such as Brent Johnson won’t miss out on what I believe to be some of the best observing experiences ever. Last year the moon and weather were both favorable for the Perseid shower, so I drove a couple of miles out of town (Mt. Pleasant) to pick a dark spot to enjoy. My son and I observed for about 2½ hours, and during that time I made two one-hour counts. I logged nearly 100 Perseids, plus ten or so sporadics, for a count of over 100 meteors EACH hour. It was the most productive Perseid shower that I’ve witnessed. The rule of thumb, of course, is the need for clear, dark skies, but that night was only so-so in that regard. Brent, you may have been underwhelmed this year, and I certainly understand why, but try again with good weather and no interference from the moon. Finally (yes, I’m almost finished), I just have to address a couple of myths about meteor showers in general: (1) “No shower members are visible until the radiant is above the horizon.” This is simply false. Just as shower members may appear anywhere in the sky, the radiant can be below the horizon yet a shower meteor can traverse the entire sky, from horizon to horizon. (2) “Meteor observing requires very dark skies.” I observed my most memorable Perseid shower from my parents’ backyard in Orem. We saw many meteors. During the shower I asked a certain young lady to marry me – she said yes. (3) (With apologies to Daniel Turner.) I have observed spectacular meteor showers in December (Geminids – 100+ observed per hour), and January (Quadrantids – maybe 40 or 50 observed per hour). (4) Ignore the published rates. I’ve often observed many more meteors than are commonly predicted. (5) “You won’t see nearly as many meteors when the moon is up.” Yes, the faint ones will be much harder to see, but some of the most spectacular meteors that I’ve observed appeared when the moon was up. (6) “You won’t see many meteors until after midnight.” It’s true that the earth “sweeps” up more meteors after midnight, but I always begin observing after dark and I’m never disappointed. I think the difference is minimal. (7) Meteor showers are not as predictable as the published data imply. If you have even marginal conditions, go for it – you just never know what you might see. I apologize for this incredibly long post, but meteor showers are a passion for me. By the way, did anyone else observe the sudden burst of activity last night at around 10:30 that I mentioned above? I’m curious… Kim _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com