The Perseids 2021 - A damp squib

[GalaxyGael]

Ditto, much calmer this year, but the 3 I saw were thick and bright compared to many lighter streaks from a few years ago. To be fair, glad that I had a clear-ish sky to look at anyway,

[Zermelo]

It sounds like I was quite lucky then. I was out for a couple of hours until cloudageddon around 00.30 and I saw four, including one that left a trail for a second or two. But I wasn't actually looking for them, and most of the time my eye was glued to the eyepiece.

25 minutes ago, Spile said:

Perhaps they are like pandas and you only see them if you don't look for them?

You could be onto something there. I'll try not looking for M33 next time I'm out.

 

[Nyctimene]

Spotted 16 in 75 minutes last night; the night before 17 in one hour (with 50% restricted view); rather good compared to most reports above, but sub-average and much better in 2016 (71; 40 within an hour) and 2018 (29/h). More details in my post in the topic "Perseid meteor shower peaks..." here.

Stephan

[Rob Aylen]

  I had a shortish session observing the shower last night, from around 22:40 till 23:45 but in that time I saw a decent number of meteors ( I should have counted but I'd say it was more than a dozen). I was at a fairly dark site however so maybe that made a difference (lucky to have Castlemorton Common just down the road).

  On the other side of the Malverns, Tom Jones was performing at 'Lakefest' at Eastnor so it was quite a surreal experience looking up at the milky way whilst "you can leave your hat on" was belting out and all the while just a few metres away a rather large cow was still fast asleep! 

I took some photos on my Samsung but didn't manage to capture a meteor in any sadly.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Rob Aylen

[Tomatobro]

7 hours ago, ShrewView said:

I managed 21 last night over two sessions. I started at 10.15 as it was getting dark and saw 7 including one bright one through partial cloud before it totally clouded over at around 11. Then it cleared at around 12.30 so went out for another hour and saw the last 14. Some bright ones among them, the best of which passed south between Jupiter and Saturn at around 12.55am and was at least as bright as Jupiter and bright white to start, with a red ending and a brief trail.

I was thinking though that there weren't as many as I've seen in previous years, and the previous night i managed almost as many in half the time. Still I'm glad to have just seen them, it could have been total cloud!

at 22:15 captured this one which could have been the one you saw  

[happy-kat]

I'm not managing to capture very many at all, probably not helped by using a 150° lens. Perhaps hedging my bets and using a DSLR and a wide lens would do better, though the ones captured so far are so far apart that I'd probably get none. Still will carry on having a go, you never know.

[BRADLEY 1953]

Yes, I fear the Perseids are no more! They have certainly declined massively in the last few years, the last decent showing was some 10 years ago or more. I have been observing this shower since the 1960's, and during the following decades rates remained high. Indeed, in the 1970's, members of the Kidderminster Astronomical Society, of which I was chairman for several years, recorded over 600 Perseids in one memorable watch over some 5 hours.  Compare this with 2021. When, under largely clear skies in a suitable rural location I recorded just 16 Perseids in two hours on August 12th, and likewise the following night August 12th/13th, (during the predicted maximum) I observed only 16 meteors.  Well at least we still have the Geminids.      Keep looking up.   Chris.

[SteveNickolls]

The clouds didn't help capturing any Perseids this year. This is almost an hours worth of exposures capturing one meteor and an aircraft trail. Note the lovely light pollution hue.

Taken with a Canon 600D and 18-55 mm lens (at 18 mm) f/3.5, x225 fifteen second exposures at ISO 400. Compiled using StarStaX software.

Cheers,
Steve

[Sargares]

I saw quite a few. The children did better but I wasn’t paying as much attention. A few good ones and half a dozen fast ones. I think the kids spotted about 15-20 over a few hours. Nothing crazy but not a wasted trip either.