14 neighbors and family headed out to a friends place in Vernon. It was a pretty good show, similar to Kim's experience. One every 2 or 3 minutes left a nice train. From 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM it got extremely dark because I fell asleep. From 4:00 AM on the moon took away most of the show or else the meteors slowed down. The moon was beautiful with Venus though. Good times. -------------- Original message --------------
I'm surprised to see so many rather negative reports. I suspect it has more to do with folks not observing from a clear, dark site, a must for meteor observing. Our experience at Wolf Creek was great.
We saw many bright (mag 0 to -2 or so) meteors, most of which left trains that lasted two or three seconds. For about an hour beginning at around 11:30, my young son counted 47 Perseids, a respectable rate for a 6-year-old. After a 15-minute nap he insisted on getting up again to see some more, but when he reached 50 he finally threw in the towel and went to sleep. My wife stopped counting at 100 over a period of a couple hours. I only made one attempt at a serious count. Between 12:15 and 12:30 I counted 15 Perseids while observing directly overhead. For last night's conditions at Wolf Creek, that count would yield a ZHR of 60, just what to expect for a good Perseid event. By 5:00, the hour of the predicted maximum, I was too tired to observe seriously, but the Moon and twilight would have made it difficult to determine whether the "peak" rate was any better.
27 years ago last night I proposed to my wife while observing the Perseids from my parents' back yard. Rarely since have conditions allowed for a repeat of the (celestial) activity we experienced then. Last night was an exception.
Kim Hyatt Architect 1849 East 1300 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 801.631.5228 kimharch@msn.com
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