2008 Perseid Meteor Shower

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Wolf873

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Well, the first few early Perseids have started trickling in, IMHO.I recorded two last night,&nbsp;before&nbsp;the IMO's expected start date of activity on July 17th, but there is sufficient video evidence that the actual start is a bit earlier, and there was little doubt about what I saw. They clearly came from the current radiant in western Cassiopia, very near the border with Andromeda. If you see a meteor coming from Perseus in mid July, it is not a Perseid!I'll discuss this in more detail when I finish my August NAMN notes; the peak is expected during the early morning hours of Aug 11-12 in the US, with the best rates from probably Hawaii and other mid Pacific islands.It's a fun time of year for the public and casual meteor observer. For the meteor nut like me, not so much, as other showers produce higher observed rates.MW <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I don't know much about meteor showers but is this process on going or is it going to be visible on a specific date, especially here in Ont, to the naked eye?&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#3366ff"><em>The most merciful thing in this world is the human mind's inability to correlate all its contents.</em></font> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>&nbsp;I don't know much about meteor showers but is this process on going or is it going to be visible on a specific date, especially here in Ont, to the naked eye?&nbsp; <br />Posted by Wolf873</DIV><br /><br />Meteors are visible to the naked eye on any night, if you spend enough time looking.</p><p>The Perseid rates are pretty low right at this time, but increase from now until the peak night of August 11-12.</p><p>During the late night/early morning you should be able to see a dozen or more per hour from this shower alone from the 9th through the 14th; on the peak night, depending on how dark your sky is you should be able to see many dozen an hour during the early morning hours.</p><p>I have quite a few meteor friends from Ontario, in fact two of them drove down to NJ on Jaunuary 4th to escape clouds and -35C temperatures to witness the Quadrantid meteor shower. It was a balmy -12 C here! <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" /></p><p>Meteor Wayne</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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Wolf873

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Meteors are visible to the naked eye on any night, if you spend enough time looking.The Perseid rates are pretty low right at this time, but increase from now until the peak night of August 11-12.During the late night/early morning you should be able to see a dozen or more per hour from this shower alone from the 9th through the 14th; on the peak night, depending on how dark your sky is you should be able to see many dozen an hour during the early morning hours.I have quite a few meteor friends from Ontario, in fact two of them drove down to NJ on Jaunuary 4th to escape clouds and -35C temperatures to witness the Quadrantid meteor shower. It was a balmy -12 C here! Meteor Wayne <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Wow, great to knowing that. It's good that your friends actually moved to witness something spectacular. Unfortunately for me, I'm the only one in my whole circle of friends and family to be interested in stars, there's no astronomy club that I found in listings here in my city either :(. So it'll be just me and my telescope and my own skills to get me through this stargazing and hopefully members of this wonderful forum :D. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#3366ff"><em>The most merciful thing in this world is the human mind's inability to correlate all its contents.</em></font> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p>We'll be glad to help as much as we can. I handle most of the meteor queries. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" /></p><p>There's plenty of knowledgable scope people as well, for me scope use is a hobby, meteors are my passion.</p><p>I'll post more about the Perseids and the many other August showers around the first of the month.</p><p>Feel free to ask questions anytime!</p><p>MW</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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aphh

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<p>One and a half hour spent watching the sky, mostly summer triangle region. No meteors to report.</p><p>However, apparently the seeing is quite good, because for the first time ever I could see 2 Galilean moons hanging to the right of Jupiter. One near the right side of Jupiter and the other a bit further to the right. Must be getting quite close to the limits of hand-held binocular astronomy.</p><p>Also, our own Moon is showing detail like never before. A mountain range stretches a good deal to the dark side of terminator. Atleast 3 mountain peaks stick out quite far to the dark side.&nbsp;</p>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>One and a half hour spent watching the sky, mostly summer triangle region. No meteors to report.However, apparently the seeing is quite good, because for the first time ever I could see 2 Galilean moons hanging to the right of Jupiter. One near the right side of Jupiter and the other a bit further to the right. Must be getting quite close to the limits of hand-held binocular astronomy.Also, our own Moon is showing detail like never before. A mountain range stretches a good deal to the dark side of terminator. Atleast 3 mountain peaks stick out quite far to the dark side.&nbsp; <br />Posted by aphh</DIV><br /><br />That's really the key to watching the moon. Every&nbsp;hour and day the terminator (the light/dark border) is in a different position. At that line, the sun is right on the horizon, so shadows are the longest, and peaks that stick up can be lit by the sun while the surrounding area is in shadow. If you went out 2 hours later the view would be different.</p><p>What time was it when you looked for meteors? Rates are highest from midnight on, they are much lower in the evening. Of course, I've gone ours without seeing any as well, but I look a lot!</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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aphh

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>That's really the key to watching the moon. Every&nbsp;hour and day the terminator (the light/dark border) is in a different position. At that line, the sun is right on the horizon, so shadows are the longest, and peaks that stick up can be lit by the sun while the surrounding area is in shadow. If you went out 2 hours later the view would be different.What time was it when you looked for meteors? Rates are highest from midnight on, they are much lower in the evening. Of course, I've gone ours without seeing any as well, but I look a lot!&nbsp; <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>I started at about 00:30 and ended at about 02:00 local time (UTC+2). I expected to see a meteor or two, but no results this time.</p><p>Btw, I read that the Galilean moons are about magnitude +4.5, so the real problem is the bright Jupiter outshining the tiny moons.&nbsp;</p>
 
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Wolf873

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Just wanted to drop by and say I think I saw a shooting star or maybe a meteor, can't say for sure but it certainly wasn't any airplane. It was a tiny shiny dot that seem to be falling down from the sky, but there wasn't any trail. It occured in North-East quadrant, is there a way to confirm what I saw? by the way my location is ON, Oshawa. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#3366ff"><em>The most merciful thing in this world is the human mind's inability to correlate all its contents.</em></font> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Just wanted to drop by and say I think I saw a shooting star or maybe a meteor, can't say for sure but it certainly wasn't any airplane. It was a tiny shiny dot that seem to be falling down from the sky, but there wasn't any trail. It occured in North-East quadrant, is there a way to confirm what I saw? by the way my location is ON, Oshawa. <br />Posted by Wolf873</DIV><br /><br />Shooting star is just the popular name for a meteor. They are the same. Generally meteors last less than a second, though some expertional ones my last 2 or 3 seconds and cover half the sky. The Perseid meteors (which would probably come from the northeast in the evening) are very fast, solast mucg less than a second.</p><p>Meteors&nbsp;can travel in any direction, even coming up from the horizon. There's no real way to tell if it was a meteor that you saw, except for you to keep looking. When you've seen enough, you'll be able to tell.</p><p>Also visible "up there" are satellites, but they generally move no faster than a high altitude plane and last 10 or 15 seconds (for Bright Iridium Satellites) to 10 minutes or so.</p><p>MW</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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Wolf873

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Shooting star is just the popular name for a meteor. They are the same. Generally meteors last less than a second, though some expertional ones my last 2 or 3 seconds and cover half the sky. The Perseid meteors (which would probably come from the northeast in the evening) are very fast, solast mucg less than a second.Meteors&nbsp;can travel in any direction, even coming up from the horizon. There's no real way to tell if it was a meteor that you saw, except for you to keep looking. When you've seen enough, you'll be able to tell.Also visible "up there" are satellites, but they generally move no faster than a high altitude plane and last 10 or 15 seconds (for Bright Iridium Satellites) to 10 minutes or so.MW <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The one I saw lasted for about 2 seconds for sure, but since it was my second viewing of a shooting star after many years I wasn't sure of what I saw, but thanks for confirming it, I had to sit out there in the cold for an hour to see it :). </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#3366ff"><em>The most merciful thing in this world is the human mind's inability to correlate all its contents.</em></font> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>&nbsp;The one I saw lasted for about 2 seconds for sure, but since it was my second viewing of a shooting star after many years I wasn't sure of what I saw, but thanks for confirming it, I had to sit out there in the cold for an hour to see it :). <br />Posted by Wolf873</DIV><br /><br />Cold would feel so good here right now. We've been 30-35C daily and humid every day for weeks now, nightime lows 20-22 C. Tonight it might be 15C with clear skies, so I've got my meteor observing pack ready to go.</p><p>2 types of lawn chairs, Tape recorder with good batteries and new tape, plotting charts with a dozen sharp pencils, long cord to align with the meteor to help me plot them, talking watch and backup talking clock calibrated to UTC, red flashlight and backup, white flashlight for emergency use. All that's left is some cool refreshments in case it's a long night; though it probably won't be. Moon rises about midnight for me, so unless it's very clear, the sky will probably be too bright for me to record scientific data by 1 AM, though I might watch for a while longer. I'll probably try and observe from ~ 10PM to 1 AM EDT.</p><p>And I have to get up early tomorrow, since the NJ Festival Ballooning starts tonight, and there's a mass ascension of 100+ balloons at 6:45 AM tomorrow. Can't miss that!</p><p>MW</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p>The International Meteor Organization's on-th-fly graph of 2008 Perseid activity is up and running at:</p><p>http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2008/</p><p>Pemember, this is raw data, not quality controlled. The ratio of meteor brightness is fixed, during a full analysis it is derived from the data. The graph shows ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) which is the standard set of conditions used to compare meteor rates. Unless you observe from&nbsp;VERY dark skies, the actual rate will almost always be lower.</p><p>Currently it shows the ZHR up to 11 +/-2</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I was out for 2.050 hours under poor hazy summer skies Friday Night/Sat AM from 10:50 PM to 1 AM.</p><p>11 Total meteors (5.4/hour)</p><p>4 Southern delta Aquarids</p><p>3 Perseids </p><p>2 Sporadic meteors</p><p>1 each alpha Capricornid and antihelion meteor.</p><p>The brightest was a -2 magnitude Perseid (a tad dimmer than Jupiter), </p><p>the average of all the meteors was magnitude +2.27, about as bright as the two stars on the right of the "W" of Cassiopiea.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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aphh

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<p>I'm back from observing, it's been exceptionally clear week and I finally saw two good meteors with identical headings streaking from cassiopeia through summer triangle.</p><p>Could these be Perseids? Observed at 01:00 (UTC+2) and both within 5 minutes.</p><p>But when anorak couldn't keep you warm in July, you know you're in the North.</p><p>Another thing about the Moon, I can see the whole moon even if only a few percent are illuminated directly by Sun. Using binoculars I can even resolve detail in the dark part.</p><p>This has to mean, that if I was on the Moon right now on the dark part of it, it wouldn't be completely dark and the Earth would shine amazingly bright!</p><p>If I had stronger binoculars with tripod, I'd try to catch a meteoroid hitting the Moon, which is said to occur quite frequently with a visible flash.&nbsp;</p>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I'm back from observing, it's been exceptionally clear week and I finally saw two good meteors with identical headings streaking from cassiopeia through summer triangle.Could these be Perseids? Observed at 01:00 (UTC+2) and both within 5 minutes.But when anorak couldn't keep you warm in July, you know you're in the North.Another thing about the Moon, I can see the whole moon even if only a few percent are illuminated directly by Sun. Using binoculars I can even resolve detail in the dark part.This has to mean, that if I was on the Moon right now on the dark part of it, it wouldn't be completely dark and the Earth would shine amazingly bright!If I had stronger binoculars with tripod, I'd try to catch a meteoroid hitting the Moon, which is said to occur quite frequently with a visible flash.&nbsp; <br />Posted by aphh</DIV></p><p>Yes, those sound like Perseids. The radiant has not reached Perseus yet, and currently lies in Cassiopiea.</p><p>I don't know exactly where off the top of my head because I don't want to know before I go out plotting tonight.</p><p>That way I can't unconciously bias my record.</p><p>You are correct, the non-sunlit portion of the moon is illuminated by earthshine!!</p><p>As far as meteors on the moon, they are not exactly common. A hundred or so have been detected in 10,000 hours or more. Almost all are too dim to be seen in binoculars. I think you'd fall asleep long before you saw one.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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TahaSiddiqui

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<p>Hi MW, last night at 2:51 am EST I was just going to bed when I just looked out the window (I do that alot). Exactly where I was looking I saw a very short blue flash that disappeared instantly. Was this a Southern Delta-Aquarid like you listed before or was it just sporadic. I was lookin South at the time and now when i chcked my sky software it was near the constellation Aquarius. </p><p>Thanks in advance MW.</p>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi MW, last night at 2:51 am EST I was just going to bed when I just looked out the window (I do that alot). Exactly where I was looking I saw a very short blue flash that disappeared instantly. Was this a Southern Delta-Aquarid like you listed before or was it just sporadic. I was lookin South at the time and now when i chcked my sky software it was near the constellation Aquarius. Thanks in advance MW. <br />Posted by TahaSiddiqui</DIV><br /><br />There are 4 acive showers near aquarius and capricorn, so I couldn't say for sure, but the SDAs are the most active one, so it seems the most likely.</p><p>Out of curiousity, what it you latitude (or roughly where do you live)?</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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TahaSiddiqui

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Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>There are 4 acive showers near aquarius and capricorn, so I couldn't say for sure, but the SDAs are the most active one, so it seems the most likely.Out of curiousity, what it you latitude (or roughly where do you live)? <br />Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /><br />I live in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada which is about 45 minutes away from Toronto, ON. Mississauga's longitude is 79 and the latitude is 44 degrees.
 
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MeteorWayne

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<p>From this month's NAMN Notes:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>1. The Perseids - The Public&rsquo;s Shower...<br /><br />If you walk up to the man or woman on the street and ask them about<br />meteors and if they&rsquo;ve seen any, about half will look at you dumbfounded<br />with no idea what you are talking about. Most of the rest will mention<br />something about &ldquo;those meteors in the summer&rdquo;. The Perseids are the most<br />accessible shower to the general public and the casual meteor watcher.<br />The weather in the northern hemisphere is warm, though the skies are<br />often hazy. Fortunately, the Perseids are generally bright and swift, so<br />can punch through the less than ideal skies. This has likely been going<br />on for nearly two millennia, since the earliest records of this shower<br />go back to 36 AD.<br /><br />The parent, 109P/Swift-Tuttle, was the third comet discovered in 1862,<br />and in fact as a result of that discovery, Giovanni Schiaparelli made<br />the first association between comets and meteor showers. At that time,<br />calculations of the comet&rsquo;s orbit (with a lot of uncertainty) indicated<br />a period of about 120 years, meaning the next return was expected in<br />1980. When it failed to appear on schedule, other possible orbits were<br />considered leading to the correct period of ~ 133 years. For a good feel<br />of the history of the comet I suggest reading Gary Kronk&rsquo;s excellent<br />page on the subject at:<br /><br />http://cometography.com/109p.html<br /><br />Earlier returns have been found (using the correct orbital period) going<br />back as far as 6 BC. The comet has been around for thousands of years,<br />and its orbit is stable enough that it will be around thousands of years<br />into the future.<br /><br />The orbit is highly inclined (113 degrees), eccentric, and retrograde,<br />orbiting the sun in the opposite direction from 98% of the material in<br />the solar system. The aphelion is well outside of that of Neptune&rsquo;s<br />orbit, at 51 AU. That&rsquo;s about as far out as Pluto gets, near the outer<br />edge of the Kuiper Belt. The perihelion (closest approach to the sun) is<br />just inside of Earth&rsquo;s orbit. These factors combine to make the Perseids<br />a northern shower with swift meteors of about 59 km/sec when they hit<br />the atmosphere. It is the largest periodic comet nucleus to visit the<br />inner solar system.<br /><br />The Perseids no longer produce the exceptional rates that occurred near<br />the 1992 perihelion, but still are reliable and bright, and so put on a<br />good show when skies permit. The rate rises slowly from mid July until<br />the peak period, then falls more rapidly afterward, ending by August<br />26th. As for the peak itself, I have examined last year&rsquo;s IMO on-the-fly<br />data (no full analysis has been completed) and it shows that high<br />activity occurred for more than 2 full days. One way to measure a peak<br />is what is called Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM), the period when the<br />rate exceeds half the peak value. Last year that occurred from Solar<br />Longitude 139.3 to 141.5. This year that would be from 20 UT August 11th<br />through 02 UT on the 14th.<br /><br />The IMO lists the peak at Solar Longitude (SL) 140.0 to 140.1 or 12-14<br />UT on the 12th. If one examines last year&rsquo;s results though, at:<br /><br />http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2007/<br /><br />that particular time appears to be in a lull between peaks earlier and<br />later. There is evidence of a narrow peak about SL 139.5, a plateau of<br />high activity from 139.7 to 139.9, and later peaks at 140.5 and 141.4.<br />The peak at 140.5 could be a return of one of the extra ones that were<br />last seen in 1999 from recent debris. The point here is that you should<br />not focus on the narrow 2 hour window of the predicted peak, but rather<br />observe well before and after. That&rsquo;s good news for North America, since<br />the predicted time is not very favorable, occurring during the day of<br />the 12th.<br /><br />One possible explanation for this is the filaments of old trails ejected<br />hundreds to thousands of years ago. Peter Jenniskens and Jeremie<br />Vaubillion calculated 3 filaments would arrive at SL 139.4, 139.45, and<br />139.81 last year; this was the time when the plateau mentioned above<br />occurred. The same trails (from 1479 and 513 AD) are also expected to<br />intersect the earth again this year from 139.6 to 139.83, so if those<br />calculations are valid, we might expect enhanced activity between 02 and<br />07 UT on the 12th. That is 10 PM EDT (7PM PDT) on the 11th until 3AM EDT<br />(midnight PDT) on the 12th. That&rsquo;s a few hours before the predicted IMO<br />peak, and almost perfect for North America.<br /><br />An interesting fact I did not realize, but discovered while preparing<br />this month&rsquo;s notes, is that the day after the peak, the radiant actually<br />moves out of Perseus into the constellation Camelopardalis. Imagine,<br />after all these years of following meteors, there are always things to<br />be learned!<br /><br />During the peak nights the moon will be setting after midnight, so the<br />darkest skies will be between then and dawn. That&rsquo;s OK, because due to<br />the radiant rising higher during the morning hours, the best rates will<br />occur near dawn anyway. However, even before then, the brightness of the<br />Perseid meteors and the low elevation of the moon should allow plenty to<br />be seen. Just be sure, as usual, to accurately estimate the Limiting<br />Magnitude of your sky if you are submitting scientific data. The NAMN<br />has a tool to help with that at the following URL:<br /><br />http://www.namnmeteors.org/lm_calc.html<br /><br />Here are the radiant locations for selected mornings during August.<br />Between these dates you can interpolate. Before and during the peak the<br />radiant lies in Perseus, as you would expect. You can also see a<br />graphical representation of this by accessing the IMO 2008 meteor shower<br />calendar:<br /><br />http://www.imo.net/calendar/2008</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>To read the whole thing (it's kind of techno geeky for the meteotoricist) Look at August 2008 here:<br /><br />http://www.namnmeteors.org/namnnotes2008.html<br /><br />It should be posted shortly....<br /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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Wolf873

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Last night when I was observing the sky, I saw an object that looked like a star. It passed right across Jupiter, location was somewhere in the Southern sky, heading East from West. Similarily, I saw another object just like that heading from the North to South direction just to left of Jupiter at around 10:15 pm. Now, I'm pretty sure that wasn't any meteor, so was it a Satellite or did I spot a UFO ;P? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#3366ff"><em>The most merciful thing in this world is the human mind's inability to correlate all its contents.</em></font> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

Guest
<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Last night when I was observing the sky, I saw an object that looked like a star. It passed right across Jupiter, location was somewhere in the Southern sky, heading East from West. Similarily, I saw another object just like that heading from the North to South direction just to left of Jupiter at around 10:15 pm. Now, I'm pretty sure that wasn't any meteor, so was it a Satellite or did I spot a UFO ;P? <br />Posted by Wolf873</DIV><br /><br />Sounds like satellites. Interestingly, I did not see any last night in my 1.4 hours of meteor observing.</p><p>5 Perseids, 2 CAP, 2&nbsp; SDA, and 7 sporadics. 16 total meteors in 1.4 hours; 11.4 per hour.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>To see a list of visible satellites for&nbsp; your location, go to:</p><p>http://heavens-above.com/</p><p>Set your location, then bookmark the page.</p><p>Then you can click on any of these to see what's in your sky:</p><p class="menu2">10 day predictions for: ISS &nbsp;|&nbsp; Genesis-1 / 2 &nbsp;|&nbsp; Envisat <span>&nbsp;|&nbsp;HST</span> </p><p class="menu2">Daily predictions for all satellites brighter than magnitude:</p><p class="menu3">(brightest) <span>3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5</span> (dimmest)</p><p class="menu2">Iridium Flares</p><p class="menu3"><span>next 24 hrs | next 7 days | previous 48 hrs</span></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Sounds like satellites. Interestingly, I did not see any last night in my 1.4 hours of meteor observing.5 Perseids, 2 CAP, 2&nbsp; SDA, and 7 sporadics. 16 total meteors in 1.4 hours; 11.4 per hour.&nbsp;To see a list of visible satellites for&nbsp; your location, go to:http://heavens-above.com/Set your location, then bookmark the page.Then you can click on any of these to see what's in your sky:10 day predictions for: ISS &nbsp;|&nbsp; Genesis-1 / 2 &nbsp;|&nbsp; Envisat &nbsp;|&nbsp;HST Daily predictions for all satellites brighter than magnitude:(brightest) 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 (dimmest)Iridium Flaresnext 24 hrs | next 7 days | previous 48 hrs <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>I agree, that is a very good site.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>No matter where you are, there are details of twilights, Sun & Moon rise & set, main satellites. Used H A to plan watching the Hubble&nbsp; Space Telescope pass over when I was in southern China & guess what, it was spot on. From my home location, Hubble never rises (too far north) & for ISS & other satellites.<br /></strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>It looks like the weather may be not be too bad here for the peak night of Perseids. Fingers crossed it stays that way.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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aphh

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"Observation window" closed here last night with the whole sky now covered in clouds with no hope for the better in perhaps weeks.<br />
 
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MeteorWayne

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<div id="post-250632" class="postcolor">Perseid rates are pretty smoothly ramping up. Currently, according to 40 observers in 15 countries who have reported 2071 Perseid meteors to the IMO here: http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2008/<br />The ZHR is up to 20 +/-1. That's up to the minute.<br /><br />The NAMN has received reports of 890 meteors in July and through August 4; <br />412 Sporadics, 176 Perseids, 136 SDA, 74 CAP.<br /><br />Full totals can be seen here:<br /><br />http://www.namnmeteors.org/observationsJulyAug08.html<br /><br /></div> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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<div id="post-251183" class="postcolor">The Perseids are warming up!<br /><br />I was out for 1.1 hour this morning under decent skies between 3:48 and 4:54 AM.<br /><br />My Perseid hourly rate was 10/hr (20/hr total meteors). The Estimated ZHR (because small number statistics don't allow precise determinations) for the Perseids was 23 +/-7. So far I've seen 44 Perseids in 13.14 hours since July 15.<br /><br />The IMO max ZHR so far was 28 +/- 4, although that is also based on very small numbers, only 41 Perseids over about 8 hours.<br />Overall, the IMO reports total 2696 Perseids from 47 observers in 16 countries.<br /><br />See details here: http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2008/<br /><br />From July 1 through Aug 8th, the NAMN has received reports of 2413 meteors in 140.56 hours.<br /><br />1117 Sporadics, 552 SDA, 422 PER, 174 CAP, 111 ANT, 37 others from 14 minor showers.<br /><br />To see the latest, look here: http://www.namnmeteors.org/observationsJulyAug08.html<br /><br />Monday morning through Wednesday morning should be the Perseid peak.<br /><br />Meteor Wayne<br /></div> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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