From here in Sanpete I had a couple of pretty good hours of meteor watching. Beginning at 12:30 MST I made two one-hour counts. In the first hour I faced due east and observed 38 Perseids and 21 sporadic/non-shower meteors. In the next hour I faced directly toward the radiant and observed 54 Perseids and 14 others. About one-fourth of all meteors that I saw were 1st magnitude or brighter, and all of the bright shower members appeared blue-green. I forgot to take a reference chart with me to estimate limiting magnitude, but it was at least 6.8 or better, based on some stars in the square of Pegasus that I checked out at home. (There seemed to be a light haze as the sky wasn’t as clear as it had been earlier in the week.) The highlights were not shower members – I observed three very bright meteors, two of which were distinctly orangeish, one that occurred in Casseiopiea and Perseus (opposite direction to be a Perseid) and one in the southwestern sky. The third was in the west and had two distinct flashes before it burned up, no color.
All in all, the best Perseid display that I’ve seen in years. If I wasn’t so tired I’d go back out. Anyone else see much? (I suspect that Patrick just wasn’t patient enough.) Kim No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.15/949 - Release Date: 8/12/2007 11:03 AM