Since I missed the Perseid Meteor Shower peak last week due to bad sky conditions and my work schedule, and since weather and other factors seem to lie in the way of me observing this shower as it fades away until next year, I decided to take a little time today and go over the notes I've kept so far in 2014. I wanted to tally the number of meteors that I've seen since the year began and the number of showers, both major and minor, that I've been able to detect. Here's what I've come up with; and though it might look impressive, experienced meteor watchers can see numbers like these on one good night, not 18 nights like I've had so far!
TOTAL METEORS SPOTTED SO FAR = 42
TOTAL METEORS BY SHOWER:
Sporadic (SPO) (No shower membership) = 15
Anthelion (ANT) (Year-round source) = 5
S. Delta Aquariid (SDA) = 5
Lyrid (LYR) = 4
Perseid (PER) = 3
Camelopardalid (CAM) = 2
Pi Piscid (PPI) = 2
July Pegasid (JPE) = 2
Alpha Capricornid (CAP) = 2
c-Andromedid (CAN) = 1
Sigma Capricornid (SCA) = 1
METEORS SEEN BY SESSION (asterisk * means that I reported my totals for that session to the I.M.O.)
1. AM Sunday March 16 (Unplanned Observation).
ANT = 1, Total =1
2. AM Sunday March 30 (Planned Observing Session).
ANT = 1, Total = 1
3. AM Sunday April 6 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 2, Total = 2
4. AM Thursday April 10 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, Total = 1
5. AM Wednesday April 23 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, LYR = 4, Total = 5
6. AM Saturday April 26 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, Total = 1
7. AM Monday May 19 (Planned Observing Session).
Total = 0
8. AM Friday May 23 (Planned Observing Session).
CAM = 1, Total = 1
9. AM Saturday May 24 (Planned Observing Session).
CAM = 1, Total = 1
10. AM Friday June 27 (Planned Observing Session).
ANT = 1, Total = 1
11. *AM Sunday June 29 (Planned Observing Session).
ANT = 1, CAN = 1, Total = 2
12. *AM Monday June 30 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, PPI = 1, Total = 2
13. *AM Friday July 4 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 3, SCA = 1, PPI = 1, Total = 5
14. AM Wednesday July 16 (Unplanned Observation).
JPE = 1, Total = 1
15. *AM Friday July 25 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, ANT = 1, JPE = 1, Total = 3
16. AM Monday July 28 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 1, ANT = 1, CAP = 1, SDA = 3, Total = 6
17. *AM Sunday August 3 (Planned Observing Session).
SPO = 3, CAP = 1, SDA = 2, PER = 2, Total = 8
18. PM Wednesday August 13 (Unplanned Observation).
PER = 1, Total = 1
There are still plenty of meteor showers coming from now through the end of the year. Hopefully I can keep getting experience watching and recording them, and get some good clear nights in which to do this.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
AM Sunday, August 3, 2014 - Meteor Observing
Begin: 1:00 AM EDT (5:00 UT). End: 4:10 AM EDT (8:10 UT)
Location: Backyard patio at Home. Longitude = 86° 03' 01" W, Latitude = 39° 39' 35", Elevation = 255 meters.
Observed Showers:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) 284° +58°
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) 308° -09°
Anthelion (ANT) 323° -12°
Delta Aquariids (SDA) 344° -15°
Perseids (PER) 034° +55°
(No plotting tonight, only visual counting.)
Details:
Period 1:
Time: 1:00 AM EDT - 2:05 AM EDT (0500 - 0605 UT Aug. 3)
Field: 330° +30° (Between Cygnus and Pegasus)
Teff: 1.050, F: 1.000, LM = 4.50 (roughly)
Meteor 1 - 1:00 AM (0500), CAP, 0.0 mag., Speed = 2, Wake seen, Glowing train lasted about 1 second, Whitish? Nice one!
Meteor 2 - 1:39 AM (0539), SDA, +1.0 mag., Speed = 2-3, Wake seen, No Train, Blue-White. Scudded along close to the East horizon.
Meteor 3 - 1:41 AM (0541), PER, +2.0 mag., Speed = 4, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. First Perseid of the season!
Period 2:
Time: 2:35 AM EDT - 4:10 EDT (0635 - 0810 UT Aug. 3)
Field: 0° +30° (Near Alpha Andromedae)
Teff: 1.083, F: 1.425, LM = 4.50 (roughly)
Meteor 1 - 2:56 AM (0656), Sporadic, +2.5 - +3.0 mag., Speed = 5, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. Like a very fast and faint point of light. If the path were traced back the radiant would probably be Far Western Pegasus or Eastern Aquila. Too fast to count it as an Anthelion.
Meteor 2 - 3:12 AM (0712), Sporadic, +2.0 - +2.5 mag., Speed = 4 -5, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. Originally in my recording I thought this could have been a Kappa Cygnid. However, the speed I estimated seems way too high for this and the radiant seems too far east; closer to the middle of Cygnus than the area between Cygnus and Draco. This meteor had a quick little flare right at the end after it seemed to end!
Meteor 3 - 3:26 AM (0726), Sporadic, +3.0 mag., Speed = 3, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. When traced back the radiant for this one would have been more in the "eastern wing" of Cygnus but not too close to where the Kappa Cygnid radiant lies. It was more between the "forelegs" of Pegasus and Cygnus.
Meteor 4 - 3:46 AM (0746), PER, +2.0 mag., Speed = 4, Wake seen, Glowing Train about one half second.
Meteor 5 - 4:06 AM (0806), SDA, 0.0 mag., Speed = 3, Wake seen, Glowing Train lasted about a second. Maybe the nicest meteor of the night besides the first one seen!
Notes:
The Waxing Moon (just a day away from First Quarter) was in Eastern Virgo between Spica to its West and Mars to its East. Moonset was around 12:05 AM (0505 UT Aug. 3). The Moon looked yellowish long before setting and rusty red when it was getting close to the horizon due to haze/smoke in the air. There were some scattered low clouds now and then before midnight and through 12:45 AM, but it was clear and cloud-free during the whole time I was outside. There may have been light fog in the air that slowly increased through the night. We had that ever-present murky haze in the sky that has plagued Central Indiana for several days, that I'm fairly sure is partly or mostly due to smoke high in the atmosphere brought in by weather systems from the US West Coast. The north and west sky were bright looking and a faint salmon color. This was probably from city lights reflected off fog and haze. The low horizons in general were more lit up than the rest of the sky.
My Limiting Magnitude estimate is based on being able to discern 4 stars in Area #7 (4.23) and 5 stars in Area #14 (4.73). Average of these two areas = 4.48. My Starry Nights planetarium program also lists Lambda Cygni as 4.50 magnitude and this star could usually be seen, faintly. This is rough but with the hazy conditions I'll stay with 4.50 mag.
I was in the lawn chair looking high in the east. I used the counting method only and the digital voice recorder. During the first session I was okay to start with just wearing jeans and a T shirt, but started to feel chilled by the end of the session. So during the second session I put on a hooded sweatshirt. There was little to no breeze all night but it was pretty dewy and I think this added to the chill. I had an all-sky chart with me printed from the AMS Website showing the radiant positions of the active showers.
1:00 AM - 67°F, Dew Point = 61°F, Humidity = 81%, Wind = Northwest at 6 mph, Pressure = 30.13"
4:00 AM - 65°F, Dew Point = 60°F, Humidity = 84%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.12"
It was a noisy night! Lots of fire truck sirens nearby at the very start. There was a yard party going on two houses to my south, and it still hadn't quite wrapped up by the time I was finished. Loud kids and adults during the first session and loud intoxicated adults during the second. Awful generic hip hop music blaring from a radio during both sessions! Ugh! That yard was lit up from time to time and there was a bonfire burning, but I was sitting low enough that the lights were obscured by the privacy fence and the smoke seemed to go straight up and wasn't a problem. Besides that, there was a real chorus of singing insects out there; chirping Crickets and whirring and buzzing Long-Horned Grasshoppers including a few Katydids. There were a few Fireflies at least early on, but not many. Mosquitoes were a little bit of an issue, but I had plenty of repellent on. No aircraft were seen tonight while I was outside (we seem to have a "Sunday loll" here before dawn).
The Pleiades were visible from over the roof of our house from about 3:55 AM on, even though I was lying in the lawn chair near the patio edge, just a couple of feet from the ground. When I'd started tonight the Great Square of Pegasus was just clearing the roof from that vantage point.
Location: Backyard patio at Home. Longitude = 86° 03' 01" W, Latitude = 39° 39' 35", Elevation = 255 meters.
Observed Showers:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) 284° +58°
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) 308° -09°
Anthelion (ANT) 323° -12°
Delta Aquariids (SDA) 344° -15°
Perseids (PER) 034° +55°
(No plotting tonight, only visual counting.)
Details:
Period 1:
Time: 1:00 AM EDT - 2:05 AM EDT (0500 - 0605 UT Aug. 3)
Field: 330° +30° (Between Cygnus and Pegasus)
Teff: 1.050, F: 1.000, LM = 4.50 (roughly)
Meteor 1 - 1:00 AM (0500), CAP, 0.0 mag., Speed = 2, Wake seen, Glowing train lasted about 1 second, Whitish? Nice one!
Meteor 2 - 1:39 AM (0539), SDA, +1.0 mag., Speed = 2-3, Wake seen, No Train, Blue-White. Scudded along close to the East horizon.
Meteor 3 - 1:41 AM (0541), PER, +2.0 mag., Speed = 4, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. First Perseid of the season!
Period 2:
Time: 2:35 AM EDT - 4:10 EDT (0635 - 0810 UT Aug. 3)
Field: 0° +30° (Near Alpha Andromedae)
Teff: 1.083, F: 1.425, LM = 4.50 (roughly)
Meteor 1 - 2:56 AM (0656), Sporadic, +2.5 - +3.0 mag., Speed = 5, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. Like a very fast and faint point of light. If the path were traced back the radiant would probably be Far Western Pegasus or Eastern Aquila. Too fast to count it as an Anthelion.
Meteor 2 - 3:12 AM (0712), Sporadic, +2.0 - +2.5 mag., Speed = 4 -5, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. Originally in my recording I thought this could have been a Kappa Cygnid. However, the speed I estimated seems way too high for this and the radiant seems too far east; closer to the middle of Cygnus than the area between Cygnus and Draco. This meteor had a quick little flare right at the end after it seemed to end!
Meteor 3 - 3:26 AM (0726), Sporadic, +3.0 mag., Speed = 3, No Wake, No Train, No Color Noted. When traced back the radiant for this one would have been more in the "eastern wing" of Cygnus but not too close to where the Kappa Cygnid radiant lies. It was more between the "forelegs" of Pegasus and Cygnus.
Meteor 4 - 3:46 AM (0746), PER, +2.0 mag., Speed = 4, Wake seen, Glowing Train about one half second.
Meteor 5 - 4:06 AM (0806), SDA, 0.0 mag., Speed = 3, Wake seen, Glowing Train lasted about a second. Maybe the nicest meteor of the night besides the first one seen!
Notes:
The Waxing Moon (just a day away from First Quarter) was in Eastern Virgo between Spica to its West and Mars to its East. Moonset was around 12:05 AM (0505 UT Aug. 3). The Moon looked yellowish long before setting and rusty red when it was getting close to the horizon due to haze/smoke in the air. There were some scattered low clouds now and then before midnight and through 12:45 AM, but it was clear and cloud-free during the whole time I was outside. There may have been light fog in the air that slowly increased through the night. We had that ever-present murky haze in the sky that has plagued Central Indiana for several days, that I'm fairly sure is partly or mostly due to smoke high in the atmosphere brought in by weather systems from the US West Coast. The north and west sky were bright looking and a faint salmon color. This was probably from city lights reflected off fog and haze. The low horizons in general were more lit up than the rest of the sky.
My Limiting Magnitude estimate is based on being able to discern 4 stars in Area #7 (4.23) and 5 stars in Area #14 (4.73). Average of these two areas = 4.48. My Starry Nights planetarium program also lists Lambda Cygni as 4.50 magnitude and this star could usually be seen, faintly. This is rough but with the hazy conditions I'll stay with 4.50 mag.
I was in the lawn chair looking high in the east. I used the counting method only and the digital voice recorder. During the first session I was okay to start with just wearing jeans and a T shirt, but started to feel chilled by the end of the session. So during the second session I put on a hooded sweatshirt. There was little to no breeze all night but it was pretty dewy and I think this added to the chill. I had an all-sky chart with me printed from the AMS Website showing the radiant positions of the active showers.
1:00 AM - 67°F, Dew Point = 61°F, Humidity = 81%, Wind = Northwest at 6 mph, Pressure = 30.13"
4:00 AM - 65°F, Dew Point = 60°F, Humidity = 84%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.12"
It was a noisy night! Lots of fire truck sirens nearby at the very start. There was a yard party going on two houses to my south, and it still hadn't quite wrapped up by the time I was finished. Loud kids and adults during the first session and loud intoxicated adults during the second. Awful generic hip hop music blaring from a radio during both sessions! Ugh! That yard was lit up from time to time and there was a bonfire burning, but I was sitting low enough that the lights were obscured by the privacy fence and the smoke seemed to go straight up and wasn't a problem. Besides that, there was a real chorus of singing insects out there; chirping Crickets and whirring and buzzing Long-Horned Grasshoppers including a few Katydids. There were a few Fireflies at least early on, but not many. Mosquitoes were a little bit of an issue, but I had plenty of repellent on. No aircraft were seen tonight while I was outside (we seem to have a "Sunday loll" here before dawn).
The Pleiades were visible from over the roof of our house from about 3:55 AM on, even though I was lying in the lawn chair near the patio edge, just a couple of feet from the ground. When I'd started tonight the Great Square of Pegasus was just clearing the roof from that vantage point.
AM Friday, July 25, 2014 - Meteor Observing
When I was driving home from work between about 1:45 AM - 2:40 AM the sky was generally clear and the air felt cool. This had looked like my best chance to get in any meteor watching this week and I was encouraged by the conditions. It seemed like the air was dry; there hadn't even been any dew on the Civic when I started it up at the parking lot at the plant. However, weather can be a strange thing! When I was driving west on I-74 between the London Road exit and the Pleasant View exit I ran into a surprising bank of low fog. It wasn't widespread and I was out of it just seconds after driving into it, and it wasn't enough fog to make driving difficult, but it was definitely a surprise. Then, when I was on the far Southeast Side of Indianapolis and I was driving east on Indian Creek Road between Acton Road and Hickory Road, I ran into some more low fog. This started me thinking that maybe I wouldn't have any crystal clear sky after all.
Fortunately, the sky stayed fairly clear every time I checked while I was home, so I set up the lawn chair outside with the little table next to it, and I started getting ready for a meteor watching session. I had the charts outside, the little red light that I’d doctored up last night, and a mechanical pencil, before 3:30 AM. This is when I planned to start my session.
Just a minute or two after 3:30 AM, however, I was startled by a very strange sound that seemed to be coming from the easement or maybe the very back part of our backyard, or my neighbors' backyard to the north. It sounded like a cross between power equipment revving up and a nasty animal growl! I also thought that I heard peeping sounds as the louder sound kept going on and on. This was honestly like nothing that I've ever heard before! I wondered if a pit bull or stray dog was attacking something nearby. I went back in the house to grab the big halogen flashlight and I shone it around the back yard for five minutes, but saw nothing. The sound was gone. I was nervous about going back out not knowing what animal had made that noise, but I kept the flashlight with me on my lap in case I heard it again. I was also annoyed that now I had less time to do the meteor watching I wanted to do! I started back up at 3:45 AM and I was outside for the next hour and 25 minutes until dawn was getting too bright at 5:10 AM.
It was chilly enough for me to be wearing a sweatshirt and long pants. It was also dewy, and the lawn chair was a little bit wet. The dampness made it feel even chillier than it should have, and the back of my head was wet throughout the watch. The sky was clear but a little hazy due to light fog in the air. The wind stayed calm the whole time. Besides that unexplained noise that I heard when I tried to start observing I could hear some Crickets chirping and some whirring sounds from Long-Horned Grasshoppers, some local car traffic every now and then and some neighborhood dogs occasionally, and the hum of traffic a mile away on I-65 which picked up all night. Local traffic sounds also picked up as it got closer to dawn, and I heard birds singing a little after 5:00 AM. Trees were dripping dew and I could hear water drops falling now and then like very scattered and very light rain on the foliage. Between 4:50 AM through the end of the session there were a lot of low jet aircraft flying overhead from west to east. This was also a little distracting. I had no problems at all with mosquitoes, and fireflies were very few and far between tonight.
One other negative thing about this night was that my neighbor two houses down to the south had his floodlight on the whole time! I was fortunate that my lawn chair was low enough to the ground so that I didn't have this light in my eyes directly, but it was still a distraction because it was lighting up some of the trees to my south. I’m sure that it affected my night vision a little even though the wooden privacy fence on the south part of the patio blocked most of it.
By 4:45 AM through the end of the session the Pleiades were visible over the roof of our house, from my vantage point on the lawn chair, even though I was lying very low to the ground.
I started to see a hint of dawn in the Northeast part of the sky just after 5:02 AM. By 5:10 AM it was noticeable enough for me to cut my meteor watching short (the limiting magnitude had dropped below 5.0.) By the time I ended I could see the entire “pentagon” of Auriga over the roof of the house and the Hyades were also well above the roof and trees, all from the edge of the patio. By 5:20 AM it was getting bright enough that stars of 4th magnitude were very difficult to see, and by 5:30 AM only stars brighter than 2nd magnitude could be seen with some 3rd magnitude stars still visible close to zenith. I think the limit of any telescope observing this time of year would have to be about 5:15 AM - 5:20 AM and meteor watching was pretty much useless by 5:10 AM. To sum it all up!
Conditions at 4:00 AM - Temperature = 60°F, Dew Point = 54°F, Humidity = 80%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.06”.
Conditions at 5:00 AM - Temperature = 59°F, Dew Point = 52°F, Humidity = 78%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.07”.
SESSION - 3:45 AM - 5:10 AM (7:45 - 9:10 UT July 25)
Effective Observing Time = 77 minutes (1.2833 hours)
Center of Gaze = 00:00 +25 (Great Square of Pegasus and close to Alpha Andromedae.)
Cloud Cover Obscuration = High clouds covered the north between 3:45 AM - 4:00 AM and obscured about 20% of the sky. For the other 1 hour and 10 minutes of observing the sky remained clear.
Tree / Other Obscuration = 10% (Approximately. (1.275 for the tree cover for all of this session minus 0.0353 = 1.2397)
Visual Limiting Magnitude = 5.05 = 5 to 6 stars in Area 6 (Pegasus) (5.08 mag.), 6 stars in Area 7 (Cepheus) (5.12 mag.), 7 stars in Area 14 (Cygnus) (4.94 mag.).
3 Meteors Seen During This Session:
Meteor #1 - 4:05 AM (8:05 UT July 25). Anthelion (ANT). 4.0 magnitude. Speed = 3 (Average). No wake or train visible. This was a faint one that passed from between the “head” and “forelegs” of Pegasus into the Great Square. While I was outside I decided that this could well be an Anthelion, and the plot that I made for it (on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas) also seems to bear this out, since it could have come from the Eastern Aquila part of that big spread-out radiant.
Meteor #2 - 4:17 AM (8:17 UT July 25). Sporadic (SPO). +1.0 magnitude. Speed = 4 (Swift). No wake or train seen. This was a nice bright meteor that blazed out of the corner of my eye from between Deneb and Cepheus through Cepheus, near Alpha Cephei and Beta Cephei. I plotted it on Page 1 of the BRNO Atlas. When I did this and extended the trail back, I realized that it could have been an Anthelion or one of the Capricornus-radiant showers, but the thing is, my view of it was so rough that I don’t trust the plot so much, especially extended back to another chart. For this reason I’m going to call it a Sporadic to be on the safe side.
Meteor #3 - 4:24 AM (8:24 UT July 25). July Pegasid (JPE). -2.0 magnitude or brighter. Speed = 4 (Swift). Had a train that glowed along the path for one or two seconds! This meteor sailed from between Triangulum and Perseus through Perseus. Unfortunately, I didn't see where it ended, since it went behind the roof of our house from where I was sitting! It was almost fireball level! When I plotted this meteor on Page 1 of the BRNO Atlas, I decided that the evidence was very good for it being a member of the July Pegasid shower, even though that shower peaked on July 10 and this was the last date that the AMS web page lists for that shower to be happening (July 25). The speed and direction and path length that I saw all seem to match up well. I’m at least 80% sure of it.
1 Notable Satellite Seen During This Session:
Satellite #1 - 5:02 AM (9:02 UT July 25). Bright and steady in brightness, about +1.5 magnitude (a little fainter than Deneb). This went right through the “forelegs” and “neck” of Pegasus heading north to south. I plotted the path of this one on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas.
The diagrams below show the meteor positions plotted tonight along with a plot of the path of the satellite that I noted, done on the BRNO Atlas.
Fortunately, the sky stayed fairly clear every time I checked while I was home, so I set up the lawn chair outside with the little table next to it, and I started getting ready for a meteor watching session. I had the charts outside, the little red light that I’d doctored up last night, and a mechanical pencil, before 3:30 AM. This is when I planned to start my session.
Just a minute or two after 3:30 AM, however, I was startled by a very strange sound that seemed to be coming from the easement or maybe the very back part of our backyard, or my neighbors' backyard to the north. It sounded like a cross between power equipment revving up and a nasty animal growl! I also thought that I heard peeping sounds as the louder sound kept going on and on. This was honestly like nothing that I've ever heard before! I wondered if a pit bull or stray dog was attacking something nearby. I went back in the house to grab the big halogen flashlight and I shone it around the back yard for five minutes, but saw nothing. The sound was gone. I was nervous about going back out not knowing what animal had made that noise, but I kept the flashlight with me on my lap in case I heard it again. I was also annoyed that now I had less time to do the meteor watching I wanted to do! I started back up at 3:45 AM and I was outside for the next hour and 25 minutes until dawn was getting too bright at 5:10 AM.
It was chilly enough for me to be wearing a sweatshirt and long pants. It was also dewy, and the lawn chair was a little bit wet. The dampness made it feel even chillier than it should have, and the back of my head was wet throughout the watch. The sky was clear but a little hazy due to light fog in the air. The wind stayed calm the whole time. Besides that unexplained noise that I heard when I tried to start observing I could hear some Crickets chirping and some whirring sounds from Long-Horned Grasshoppers, some local car traffic every now and then and some neighborhood dogs occasionally, and the hum of traffic a mile away on I-65 which picked up all night. Local traffic sounds also picked up as it got closer to dawn, and I heard birds singing a little after 5:00 AM. Trees were dripping dew and I could hear water drops falling now and then like very scattered and very light rain on the foliage. Between 4:50 AM through the end of the session there were a lot of low jet aircraft flying overhead from west to east. This was also a little distracting. I had no problems at all with mosquitoes, and fireflies were very few and far between tonight.
One other negative thing about this night was that my neighbor two houses down to the south had his floodlight on the whole time! I was fortunate that my lawn chair was low enough to the ground so that I didn't have this light in my eyes directly, but it was still a distraction because it was lighting up some of the trees to my south. I’m sure that it affected my night vision a little even though the wooden privacy fence on the south part of the patio blocked most of it.
By 4:45 AM through the end of the session the Pleiades were visible over the roof of our house, from my vantage point on the lawn chair, even though I was lying very low to the ground.
I started to see a hint of dawn in the Northeast part of the sky just after 5:02 AM. By 5:10 AM it was noticeable enough for me to cut my meteor watching short (the limiting magnitude had dropped below 5.0.) By the time I ended I could see the entire “pentagon” of Auriga over the roof of the house and the Hyades were also well above the roof and trees, all from the edge of the patio. By 5:20 AM it was getting bright enough that stars of 4th magnitude were very difficult to see, and by 5:30 AM only stars brighter than 2nd magnitude could be seen with some 3rd magnitude stars still visible close to zenith. I think the limit of any telescope observing this time of year would have to be about 5:15 AM - 5:20 AM and meteor watching was pretty much useless by 5:10 AM. To sum it all up!
Conditions at 4:00 AM - Temperature = 60°F, Dew Point = 54°F, Humidity = 80%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.06”.
Conditions at 5:00 AM - Temperature = 59°F, Dew Point = 52°F, Humidity = 78%, Wind = Calm, Pressure = 30.07”.
SESSION - 3:45 AM - 5:10 AM (7:45 - 9:10 UT July 25)
Effective Observing Time = 77 minutes (1.2833 hours)
Center of Gaze = 00:00 +25 (Great Square of Pegasus and close to Alpha Andromedae.)
Cloud Cover Obscuration = High clouds covered the north between 3:45 AM - 4:00 AM and obscured about 20% of the sky. For the other 1 hour and 10 minutes of observing the sky remained clear.
Tree / Other Obscuration = 10% (Approximately. (1.275 for the tree cover for all of this session minus 0.0353 = 1.2397)
Visual Limiting Magnitude = 5.05 = 5 to 6 stars in Area 6 (Pegasus) (5.08 mag.), 6 stars in Area 7 (Cepheus) (5.12 mag.), 7 stars in Area 14 (Cygnus) (4.94 mag.).
3 Meteors Seen During This Session:
Meteor #1 - 4:05 AM (8:05 UT July 25). Anthelion (ANT). 4.0 magnitude. Speed = 3 (Average). No wake or train visible. This was a faint one that passed from between the “head” and “forelegs” of Pegasus into the Great Square. While I was outside I decided that this could well be an Anthelion, and the plot that I made for it (on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas) also seems to bear this out, since it could have come from the Eastern Aquila part of that big spread-out radiant.
Meteor #2 - 4:17 AM (8:17 UT July 25). Sporadic (SPO). +1.0 magnitude. Speed = 4 (Swift). No wake or train seen. This was a nice bright meteor that blazed out of the corner of my eye from between Deneb and Cepheus through Cepheus, near Alpha Cephei and Beta Cephei. I plotted it on Page 1 of the BRNO Atlas. When I did this and extended the trail back, I realized that it could have been an Anthelion or one of the Capricornus-radiant showers, but the thing is, my view of it was so rough that I don’t trust the plot so much, especially extended back to another chart. For this reason I’m going to call it a Sporadic to be on the safe side.
Meteor #3 - 4:24 AM (8:24 UT July 25). July Pegasid (JPE). -2.0 magnitude or brighter. Speed = 4 (Swift). Had a train that glowed along the path for one or two seconds! This meteor sailed from between Triangulum and Perseus through Perseus. Unfortunately, I didn't see where it ended, since it went behind the roof of our house from where I was sitting! It was almost fireball level! When I plotted this meteor on Page 1 of the BRNO Atlas, I decided that the evidence was very good for it being a member of the July Pegasid shower, even though that shower peaked on July 10 and this was the last date that the AMS web page lists for that shower to be happening (July 25). The speed and direction and path length that I saw all seem to match up well. I’m at least 80% sure of it.
1 Notable Satellite Seen During This Session:
Satellite #1 - 5:02 AM (9:02 UT July 25). Bright and steady in brightness, about +1.5 magnitude (a little fainter than Deneb). This went right through the “forelegs” and “neck” of Pegasus heading north to south. I plotted the path of this one on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas.
The diagrams below show the meteor positions plotted tonight along with a plot of the path of the satellite that I noted, done on the BRNO Atlas.
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