PM Sun. June 29 - AM Mon. June 30, 2014 - Meteor Observing

  For the second night in a row, well after midnight this time, the sky cleared out enough for me to get some meteor observing done. The minor showers that I looked for on Saturday evening through Sunday morning were all still predicted to be active. Here's how it went:


  SESSION #1 - 2:00 AM - 3:00 AM (6:00 - 7:00 UT June 30)
  Effective Observing Time = 55 Minutes
  Center of Gaze = 21:30 +30 (From the “Eastern Wingtip” of Cygnus to the “Forelegs” of Pegasus)
  Cloud Cover Obscuration = 0% (No clouds seen and the clarity of the sky improved quickly between 2:30 AM - 3:00 AM)
  Tree / Other Obscuration = 10% (Approximately)
  Visual Limiting Magnitude = 5.15 (See Notes).
  (3:00 AM Conditions) Temperature = 70°F, Dew Point = 67°F, Humidity = 90%, Wind = SW at 9 mph (with some gusts that were enough to rustle the leaves on the trees), Pressure = 29.99” and Fairly Steady.

  Other Notes - Like last night it was comfortable enough to wear a T-shirt and Jeans outside on the lawn chair. I put on plenty of repellent. There were some Crickets chirping away in the background but not too many. The air was full of Fireflies and this was a real distraction when they flashed around me in the treetops or flashed while whizzing overhead and imitated meteors. It definitely felt humid but the occasional breezes helped. There was dull roar of distant traffic and a few high jet aircraft passed overhead, and the occasional dog barking. But it was a very quiet Monday morning in the neighborhood overall.

  When I started this session I could see almost all of the Great Square of Pegasus over the roof of the house from the lawn chair (except for Gamma Pegasi) but by the end the whole Great Square could be seen along with most of the bright stars of Andromeda. The Milky Way was obvious like a long faint cloud through Cygnus and all the way to Cepheus and Cassiopeia. I thought the sky looked murky when I started but, especially between 2:30 AM - 3:30 AM, the sky transparency improved dramatically and even faint stars appeared like bright pinpoints against the darkness. It was clearer than last night!

  2 Meteors Seen During This Session:

  Meteor #1 - 2:22 AM (6:22 UT June 30). Sporadic. 4.0 magnitude. Speed = 4 (Swift). No wake or train and no color. This meteor flashed from just east (below) Omicron Andromedae to just east (below) Iota Pegasi. I determined that it had to be sporadic because, tracing the path back, the radiant would have at least had to have been in Southern Cassiopeia. I plotted it on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas.

  Meteor #2 - 2:56 AM (6:56 UT June 30). Pi Piscid (PPI) meteor almost for sure! 2.0 magnitude. Speed = 2 (Slow but see details), This meteor left a wake or train that lasted a second or more. It was near the radiant for the Pi Piscid Shower and I think this was the reason it seemed slower than these meteors should be. It seemed to come from right behind the roof between near Eta Andromedae to past Delta and Pi Andromedae. It was a pretty spectacular meteor! I plotted this one on Page 6 of the BRNO Atlas.

  1 Satellite Seen During This Session:

  Satellite #1 - Seen around 2:53 AM (6:53 UT June 30). 3rd magnitude in brightness and steady. This satellite passed from just west (above) Deneb to just west (above) Alpha Cephei.

  (Visual Limiting Magnitude Determination for Session #1 -
  2:17 AM - 6 stars in Area 7 (5.12), 7 stars in Area 14 (4.94), 6 to 7 stars in Area 13 (5.20).
  2:28 AM - 7 stars in Area 13 (5.42), 7 stars in Area 14 (4.94), and 6 stars in Area 7 (5.12).
  2:35 AM - 6 stars in Area 7 (5.12), 8 stars in Area 14 (5.06), and 7 stars in Area 13 (5.42).
  Average During This Hour = 5.15.)


  SESSION #2 - 3:15 AM - 3:25 AM (7:15 - 7:25 UT June 30)

  This one was a bust. The sky conditions were deteriorating as I sat outside with a lot of high cloud cover moving over the sky. I’d thought that high clouds had started to cover the Northern part of the sky  by the end of my first session, but now they were definitely over the rest of the sky. I could see faint bands and mottling, and the Visual Limiting Magnitude had dropped to about 4.36. (3 stars in Area 7 and 4 stars in Area 14). It was getting the point where 4th magnitude stars were hard to see and only 3rd magnitude stars were obvious. There was just a general bright haze over the sky. It looked like the cloud cover I’d seen moving our way on satellite images online had arrived for good.

  Here are the two meteors seen tonight, plotted on the BRNO Atlas.