Don't forget the Perseids!

[neilbone]

Hi All,
I guess we're now in the final throes of the NLC 'season'. Only one sighting here, due to medical situation - I had a major op to remove the site of a tumour on June 25, and managed therefore to miss the following night's big display, and also my birthday two days later! Hey-ho. All well on the mend now, wound healing and energy/vitality coming back. Nice to be home again and recuperating in some sunshine at last. Kudos to the skill and professionalism of the surgeons and nurses at St Richard's, Chichester.
August's arrival, whilst bringing the curtain down shortly on the NLC does, of course, see the onset of 'meteor season'. I'm sure most on this forum won't need it, but I thought it might be worth posting a brief reminder that the Perseids are superbly-placed this year, with New Moon for the Aug 12-13 maximum and, of course, excellent activity for a week or so to either side. As ever, observations on all possible nights (most will find darer skies increasing after this weekend as the Moon retreats into the morning sky) will be welcomed by the BAA Meteor Section (http://www.britastro.org.uk/ for details). We had a pretty good run in 2005, and it'd be nice, after a weather-induced lean spell since last November's Leonids, to get a good look at the Perseids in '07, too. While the enhanced activity of the early to mid 1990s is now over, the principal, annual maximum still provides excellent rates, and there may be surprises still to come - only observation can ever really tell us what's going on. Hopefully the weather will be kind, and we've now got out of the rainy spell that dominated June and July in the UK...

Cheers,
Neil

[tmcewan]

Hi Neil,

Great to hear that all went well with the op and that you're on the mend. I'll be in York for a few days before the Perseid peak but will do my best to get some observing in before racing back up to Scotland for the Saturday and Sunday nights. After the miserable weather the summer has produced a break for the Perseids would be much welcomed!

Tom

[martinastro]

Hi Neill

Glad the opp went well and that you are in good form!

Will be watching the Perseids for sure!

[heaven31]

Have been watching for Perseids since 10pm this evening and have seen quite a few bright ones, the kids have managed to see a few too and were quite impressed. We went to the local park at 10.30 and lay on the grass and we seen about 4 in the space of 2 mins, really good ones too. Gonna warm up a bit then planning to sit out in the garden on the sun loungers with blankets and a hot drink I don't have to be up for anything in the morning so planning to stay up til it starts getting light. ;D

Jo xx

[martinastro]

Last nights Perseid meteor maximum was the first I have watched on my own for several years which made it even more enjoyable. My batteries were charged and I began the night by watching the 22.02 ISS pass during bright evening twilight. As darkness fell the clouds increased making for a very challenging time as I had to fight for every meteor seen. It was a calm, mild, wet night with very slow eastward drifting broken Cumulus. The sky was dark and the trans varied greatly. Here is a quick summary of my unbroken hourly observations.

23.00 - 00.00 BST

Perseids = 3, Non Shower Meteors = 2, Total = 5

95% cloudy. trans = 5, limiting mag 4.5, clear strip low in W - NW sky. Light drizzle at one stage.

00.00 - 01.00 BST

Perseids = 10, Non Shower Meteors = 1, Total = 11

90 - 95% cloudy, limiting mag 5, stayed overcast for most of this hour. Seen one very nice borderline fireball and two fainter Perseid's in chase one behind the other.

01.00 - 02.00 BST

Perseids = 8, Non Shower Meteors = 3, Total = 11

60 - 70% cloudy, trans = 8, limiting mag 6.2. Milky Way very bright with dark dust lanes, variable star RCrB still in outburst and invisible with naked eye. Clear along NE and NW - S sky sectors.

02.00 - 03.00 BST

Perseids = 34, Non Shower Meteors = 2, Total = 36

From country location, 60% cloudy, trans = 8, limiting mag 6.2, Seen a wonderful orange fireball moving N to S at its brightest just south of the Zenith which produced a double flash and illuminated cloud. I listened for sound but none was heard. Several Perseids at 0 mag seen also and several 'chasers'.

03.00 - 04.00 BST

Perseids = 24, Non Shower Meteors = 2, Total = 26

Sky 80% cloudy, Clear in SW - N and patchy at zenith. Seen fabulous fireball high in NW which left a long straight blue ion train for 30 seconds! This was the highlight of the night. Big increase in fireball activity around this time and many seen lighting up the cloud from behind like orange daggers. The greatest abundance of these appeared in Ursa Minor and Draco.

04.00 - 04.18 BST

Perseids = 4, Non Shower Meteors = 1, Total = 5

Sky 95% clear, small clear gaps in Taurus, Perseus, Auriga, Pegasus and Cetus. Many fainter Perseids slicing through the square of Pegasus during the last 30 min's. M45 nicely placed above Mars. Seen another brilliant fireball as a very large colourless disk with no tail shoot from N to S behind clouds. I could see its Moon-like disk moving behind a large blanket of orange cloud at an incredible speed which seemed swifter than all the previous Perseids I have witnessed tonight. Session ended at 04.18 due to clouds.

Total Perseids Observed = 83
Total Non Shower Meteors Observed = 11
Total Meteors observed = 94

I think a count of 94 meteors is quite exceptional for a single observer under a mostly cloudy sky! Last year I seen 137 throughout the entire clear night. This years Perseids seemed very active indeed and what was exciting was the large amount of fireballs which was incredible to watch particularily in the pre dawn hours when they tended to burn up east of the zenith in Ursa Major and Draco. Many bright members also favoured Aquila, Bootes, CrB and Pegasus. The best location again proved to be Uma. Luckily my batteries held out for the entire night (helped somewhat by the mild temps) and I managed to fill my memory card several times with patrol images. Many Perseids passed though my images however they were too faint for my camera to detect however I did catch a few but the best was a mag + 2.0 orange Perseid with long tail which cut down the centre of capricornus!





A very successful night despite the clouds! I will be trying again on the following night!

[martinastro]

I did a watch last night from 01.35 - 03.30 BST Sky as not good with 85% cloud cover, very mild, calm and quite. A few decent clear patches appeared in the N and W. Seen 16 meteors of which 14 were Perseids and 2 non shower members. The highlight was a spectacular fireball at 03.08 BST heading from the Perseid radiant in the high NE into the W at a 45 degree angle. It soared through the sky at incredible speed sporting a large disk-like head (1 degree in diameter) with a long straight narrow tail. Bright white and blue colours clearly seen. It moved behind a blanket of cloud and flashed brightly illuminating the cloud from the behind. It burnt up within Hercules and at its peak it was must have been mag - 8.0 or perhaps even brighter! I never heard a sonic boom from the event although I suspect it left in its wake a wonderful twisted smoke train behind the cloud. This was the best Perseid fireball I have seen over the last few nights!

[markt]

I was just having a re-read of this thread and realised I had a few pics I could add - maybe nearly a year late, but better late than never...

Every year I travel to Anglesey for a weeks hol for the Perseids - in persuit of dark skies, though has to be said in the past couple of years it has suffered here...

I found this image which I quite liked >>>



60secs iso1600 10mm f4

There's 3 meteors in the photo...

Also this one >>>



42sec iso1600 18mm f2.8

[markt]

As the title suggests, this years Perseid meteor shower is virtually upon us...

As such i'm off tomorrow morning for my annual pilgrimage to the dark skies of Anglesey to, weather permitting, observe them and hopefully a host of other astro delights.

I have no internet access out there so you won't be hearing from me for a week or so. Hopefully there will be a spectacular late NLC display visible, if there is I shall be grabbing as many pics of it as possible, as I will of meteors and anything else interesting that catches my eye. Naturally i'll post them when I get back home.

So, from me, signing off for a week or so,

Best wishes and clear skies, Mark