A date with the Perseids 13/08/2009

[ashenlight]

Hello all,

It was far too cloudy yesterday (12th August and the Perseids peak) to do any observing so I decided to hedge my bets and go out tonight. The sky was crystal clear by about 21:30 (can't believe it is dark by then - seems like forever since we had properly dark nights!) so I set up the sun lounger at the bottom of the garden - using the tall fir trees to obscure the Moon (I could already see its glow), popped the sleeping bag over me, along with numerous other blankets, opened my star chart, positioned my binoculars (for Milky Way observing - meteors are always a naked eye event for me) and just settled back in the hope of catching some of the shower.

To my amazement, within about 5 minutes - maybe less - of settling down, an amazing Perseid streaked right over head, just a little way past Vega. It was very bright, almost blue in colour and left a visible smoke trail that seemed to linger for some time - I'd say 2 seconds (considering the meteor was gone in what seemed like a nanosecond I thought a 2 second long smoke trail was quite impressive!) It was even enough time to point it out to my Mum who was collecting up the gardening equipment after a day's weeding. She was equally flabbergasted.

A 10 minute wait followed and then, just as quickly as before, I saw 2 more meteors inbetween Cepheus and Cygnus. They were fainter than before, no smoke trail, and not in any way as bright as the first. It was still a lovely sight.

I just happened to turn my view over to the Altair side of the Summer Triangle when, a little way towards the Southwest, a fairly bright orange spark caught my eye. I watched as this really big, 'globular' Perseid (maybe?) fizzled its way across the sky. I say 'fizzled' because the smoke trail it left was a little... zig zag. Even the smoke trail had a slight orange tinge to it. I was wondering if this may be a 'fireball' - I've heard other observers mention these over the past week or so.

Another 10 minutes went by and I saw another two meteors! Such an improvement on just the one that was observed a few days ago. They both occured inbetween Cepheus and the Summer Triangle, as earlier on in the evening, and were equally bright and astounding leaving quite noticeable smoke trails behind them. The way they flash in and out of the atmosphere really reminds me of a sword, catching the light in a medieval duel... these last two were so awesome, I had to catch my breath afterwards. When I see a meteor, I seem to stay stock still and stop breathing for a few seconds! Perhaps it's just me trying to be as still as possible, not to miss anything whilst I adjust my position - which won't do any good seen as the meteors move so fast!

By around 22:20 I hadn't seen any meteors for a good 10 minutes. I stayed out for another half an hour, viewing the sprawling Milky Way with the binoculars. I was really, really shocked to be noticing a slight milky/grey area streaking down the Summer Triangle when I used averted vision... I am wondering if this was the Milky Way! There wasn't a hint of cloud in the sky for the whole observing session, so I'd like to think it was the depths of our own galaxy.

Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Hercules, Lyra, Cygnus - they were all riding high sparkling away down at me as I lay there taking in the Summer evening. Everything was so perfect - I even had a few close encounters with bats!

As I was thinking about packing up 4 seagulls flew overhead, their underbellies catching the light coming from my next door neighbour's kitchen. They looked so ethereal, the wings beating the air as they whooshed past me. It was a fitting end to a beautiful evening.

Hope you all managed to catch some Perseids. I'm hooked on observing showers now

[arad85]

Lovely report Amanda - you obviously had a great time. I spent too much time using the 'scope last night that I didn't catch any We did see half a dozen on Tuesday night though...

I'm hooked on observing showers now

Isn't that called being a voyeur

[mdstuart]

Lovely report you clearly enjoyed yourself. I only spotted the one bright one whilst out last night.

Mark

[ashenlight]

thanks guys I'm gonna try again tonight, just on the off chance of catching a few more

[beetlejuice]

thanks guys I'm gonna try again tonight, just on the off chance of catching a few more

Hi Amanda

Great report. I was clouded out last nite - only a few small breaks and not worth the effort. It's very wet here today (severe weather warning - I thought this was summer?). So it's the pub instead

Bob

[Talitha]

Oddly enough, i saw more meteors the night after the predicted peak of the showers.. probably due to the additional pre-moonrise darkness. There was one which appeared at the bottom of OPH and whipped into SCO.. probably wasn't a Perseid, but i counted it anyway, lol.

The IAU defines a fireball as being magnitude -4 or brighter, and the few i've been lucky enough to witness were absolutely stunning. When you see one, you won't wonder afterwards if that's what it was.. trust me, you'll know. It's not a 'bright spark'.. it's a fireball in every sense of the word, and i hope everyone gets a chance to see a few in their lifetime.

[ashenlight]

Looking back to the notes I made (they were very sparse and decidedly dewy, lol) the 'fireball' didn't just appear as a spark... I wrote down 'screamed in near Altair' with a very distinct wobbly smoke trail. It was obviously an 'object' not just a streak of light, as the other Perseids seemed to be. I also wrote down 'estimate mag -6.'

..who knows! It was amazing whatever it was! I'd love to see an earthgrazer Carol, heared you mention them a few times

[yeti monster]

We saw a huge fireball when down in the New Forest, several years back. Last night I chanced an hour or so, more to while away and ponder, than anything else.

I saw 5 faint meteors, nowhere near as bright and vivid as the two I saw on Tuesday night.

I could really do with a set of blinkers, as the helideck, and nautical hazard lamps tend to interfere with my eyes adjusting to the night sky.