meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

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Date: 13 Aug 2007 07:21:12
From: Esmail
Subject: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(

Date: 13 Aug 2007 18:54:12
From: Too_Many_Tools
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

On Aug 13, 3:35 pm, Chris L Peterson <c...@alumni.caltech.edu > wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:21:12 -0400, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
> >week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
> >yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
>
> I saw more meteors than I usually do during Perseids, but fewer really
> bright fireballs. After midnight I was seeing one or two meteors per
> minute, although sometimes there were bursts of several together. Many
> of them (~20%) had persistent trails lasting a second or two. All in
> all, a nice visual display. I only went out and watched a few times, and
> only for a few minutes. I did wake up a few times and watch them through
> the window over my bed, however.
>
> I also recorded many meteors (mag 1-2 and brighter) with my allsky
> camera. 284 over the last four nights, 121 last night alone. I noted a
> brief peak in activity on August 12, making me think we might have
> encountered an uncharted high-density region of the stream. The
> composite image and frequency data are athttp://www.cloudbait.com/science/perseid2007.html.
>
> _________________________________________________
>
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatoryhttp://www.cloudbait.com

Thanks for the post Chris.

Good site too.

TMT

Date: 13 Aug 2007 18:04:03
From: Wayne S
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Esmail wrote:

>Just wondering what people saw? After a
>mostly clear skies for most of the week, and
>predicted for the rest of the week, we had
>clouds most of yesterday and thunderstorms
>over night :-(

Live in the inland empire outside of LA so drove up toward Mt. Baldy and
then took the Glendora Ridge Road to the top and drove down a couple
turnouts where there's almost no traffic and few meteor watchers.
Elevation about 6000 ft. and light pollution equivalent to what Joshua
Tree is these days.

At 1:30 AM set up the recliner, got out the coffee thermos and watched
until 4:15 AM until the mosquitos took over and some fog patches started
rolling in.

Perfect viewing conditions for this area and there were a lot of
meteors. Most small streaks but quite a few really good ones that left
sustained trails and some that had arching trajectories. There were
clumps or 4 or 5 within a minute and some doubles and triples. There
were also gaps of 10 minutes with nothing. Didn't bother counting but
must have seen well over 150. Best Perseid display I've seen.

Cheers,
Wayne

Date: 13 Aug 2007 17:37:01
From: Esmail
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Thanks everyone .. good to hear everyone's reports. Sounds
as if it wasn't nearly as nice as expected, and sorry to hear
that so many of us have to contend with bad conditions.

Also, happy to have some sane posts here today - that was
a treat too.

Date: 13 Aug 2007 14:35:13
From: Chris L Peterson
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:21:12 -0400, Esmail <ebonak_delme@hotmail.com >
wrote:

>Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
>week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
>yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(

I saw more meteors than I usually do during Perseids, but fewer really
bright fireballs. After midnight I was seeing one or two meteors per
minute, although sometimes there were bursts of several together. Many
of them (~20%) had persistent trails lasting a second or two. All in
all, a nice visual display. I only went out and watched a few times, and
only for a few minutes. I did wake up a few times and watch them through
the window over my bed, however.

I also recorded many meteors (mag 1-2 and brighter) with my allsky
camera. 284 over the last four nights, 121 last night alone. I noted a
brief peak in activity on August 12, making me think we might have
encountered an uncharted high-density region of the stream. The
composite image and frequency data are at
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/perseid2007.html .

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Date: 14 Aug 2007 22:05:45
From: SZumbo
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

>
> I saw more meteors than I usually do during Perseids, but fewer really
> bright fireballs. After midnight I was seeing one or two meteors per
> minute, although sometimes there were bursts of several together. Many
> of them (~20%) had persistent trails lasting a second or two. All in
> all, a nice visual display. I only went out and watched a few times, and
> only for a few minutes. I did wake up a few times and watch them through
> the window over my bed, however.
>
> I also recorded many meteors (mag 1-2 and brighter) with my allsky
> camera. 284 over the last four nights, 121 last night alone. I noted a
> brief peak in activity on August 12, making me think we might have
> encountered an uncharted high-density region of the stream.

Thanks for this report, Chris. I was going out to look around 4 AM CDT
Sunday, but light pollution and 85+% cirrostratus clouds precluded any view
in southwest suburban Chicago.

Steve

Date: 13 Aug 2007 15:09:06
From: Mike Wood
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Date: 13 Aug 2007 15:31:36
From: Marty
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

I saw a pretty good batch of meteors the night before... maybe 6 or 8 in
about 15 minutes of casual viewing, but got clouded out last night. The
CRICKETS and stuff were screaming at the top of their lungs. (OK, so
crickets don't have lungs. Report me to Homeland Security or
something...)
Marty

Date: 13 Aug 2007 18:06:00
From: beowulf@nowhere.net
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

On Aug 13, 12:52 pm, "Craig" <CBobchin@My_Skinsbcglobal.net > wrote:
> Well here in Orange County CA. I had mixed results. Sat. at our Dark
> sky site was clear and beautiful and warm. One of the best nights I can
> remember out there in a long time. Did not see too many Perseids, but a
> few. I heard Fri. was better.
>
> On Sun. I went to an area near our in town observing site and let me
> tell you there were a lot of people on the side of the roads in this
> area. Saw a few meteors, but over all I was underwhelmed. It was not as
> good as predicted. By about 1:00am the Marine Layer started to roll in
> and transparency and seeing was shot.

Went out last night, sky was mostly clear. Duluth (northern)
Minnesota, USA. Underwhelmed. We saw a meteor perhaps every 5-10
minutes, that was around 10-11pm CST.

Date: 13 Aug 2007 08:36:37
From: Too_Many_Tools
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

On Aug 13, 6:21 am, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com > wrote:
> Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
> week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
> yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(

Hard to tell....I was out for several hours and saw very little.

Anyone else?

TMT

Date: 14 Aug 2007 01:17:08
From: Sjouke Burry
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> On Aug 13, 6:21 am, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
>> week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
>> yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
>
> Hard to tell....I was out for several hours and saw very little.
>
> Anyone else?
>
> TMT
>
Lightly overcast,generous lightpolution,
3 hits and may be a small 4th one.
About 15 minutes observation.
Netherlands.

Date: 13 Aug 2007 12:57:42
From: Michael Sisson
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

In article <1187019397.826358.10760@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com >,
too_many_tools@yahoo.com says...
> On Aug 13, 6:21 am, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
> > week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
> > yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
>
> Hard to tell....I was out for several hours and saw very little.
>
> Anyone else?
>
> TMT
>
>

I was *extremely* frustrated trying to find a place to view. I am in
Southwest Ontario, Canada. It is all farmland with 'No Tresspassing'
signs as far as the eye can see.

I drove in the area north of Guelph for about three and a half hours
before just giving up and driving home. I could have just parked on a
sideroad, but then the farmers would have thought I was broken down or
stealing all their corn. Plus I was early; I was planning on stopping
somewhere and having a sleep in the car until the early morning. The
last thing I want is some police officer tapping on my window at 2am.

Finding a good observing site here seems to be impossible.

MRSisson
--
LOAD "GPL",8

SEARCHING FOR GPL
LOADING
READY.
RUN

Date: 13 Aug 2007 14:06:24
From: Bill Hudson
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Michael Sisson wrote:
> In article <1187019397.826358.10760@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
> too_many_tools@yahoo.com says...
>> On Aug 13, 6:21 am, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
>>> week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
>>> yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
>> Hard to tell....I was out for several hours and saw very little.
>>
>> Anyone else?
>>
>> TMT
>>
>>
>
> I was *extremely* frustrated trying to find a place to view. I am in
> Southwest Ontario, Canada. It is all farmland with 'No Tresspassing'
> signs as far as the eye can see.
>
> I drove in the area north of Guelph for about three and a half hours
> before just giving up and driving home. I could have just parked on a
> sideroad, but then the farmers would have thought I was broken down or
> stealing all their corn. Plus I was early; I was planning on stopping
> somewhere and having a sleep in the car until the early morning. The
> last thing I want is some police officer tapping on my window at 2am.
>
> Finding a good observing site here seems to be impossible.
>
>
> MRSisson

We took the entire family out to as dark a location as we could get
locally. I could make out all of the major stars in Sag and Sco, but
not much else, so I'd say the limiting magnitude was around 2, not great.

We watched for about an hour between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM PDT, and saw
three or four large fast ones that left straight trails, and about 6 or
7 smaller ones that appeared to 'loop in' (smaller, apparently curved
path).

My youngest daughter (age 6) was stoked, and we decided next year that
we're taking our in-laws RV and going to a dark campground.

Date: 13 Aug 2007 17:52:22
From: Craig
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Well here in Orange County CA. I had mixed results. Sat. at our Dark
sky site was clear and beautiful and warm. One of the best nights I can
remember out there in a long time. Did not see too many Perseids, but a
few. I heard Fri. was better.

On Sun. I went to an area near our in town observing site and let me
tell you there were a lot of people on the side of the roads in this
area. Saw a few meteors, but over all I was underwhelmed. It was not as
good as predicted. By about 1:00am the Marine Layer started to roll in
and transparency and seeing was shot.
--
Remove My_Skin to E-mail me.

Michael Sisson wrote:

> In article <1187019397.826358.10760@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
> too_many_tools@yahoo.com says...
> > On Aug 13, 6:21 am, Esmail <ebonak_de...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for
> > > most of the week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had
> > > clouds most of yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
> >
> > Hard to tell....I was out for several hours and saw very little.
> >
> > Anyone else?
> >
> > TMT
> >
> >
>
> I was extremely frustrated trying to find a place to view. I am in
> Southwest Ontario, Canada. It is all farmland with 'No Tresspassing'
> signs as far as the eye can see.
>
> I drove in the area north of Guelph for about three and a half hours
> before just giving up and driving home. I could have just parked on a
> sideroad, but then the farmers would have thought I was broken down
> or stealing all their corn. Plus I was early; I was planning on
> stopping somewhere and having a sleep in the car until the early
> morning. The last thing I want is some police officer tapping on my
> window at 2am.
>
> Finding a good observing site here seems to be impossible.
>
>
> MRSisson

Date: 13 Aug 2007 09:55:57
From: Esmail
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

Esmail wrote:
> Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of the
> week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
> yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(

Ok, looks like the flood of junk has (at least temporarily) stopped.
Any reports on last night's activities?

Date: 13 Aug 2007 15:23:12
From: John Nichols
Subject: Re: meteor showers - how was it if you had clear skies?

"Esmail" <ebonak_delme@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:46c062ed$0$29680$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Esmail wrote:
>> Just wondering what people saw? After a mostly clear skies for most of
>> the
>> week, and predicted for the rest of the week, we had clouds most of
>> yesterday and thunderstorms over night :-(
>
> Ok, looks like the flood of junk has (at least temporarily) stopped.
> Any reports on last night's activities?

I was out until around 11:30, but really didn't see anything. I chalk it up
to them not being high enough to be seen through my limited sight lines, and
the godawful light pollution at my home in North Olmsted.