Perseids Provide Exciting Show in 2016 – Updated

7 comments

• Pedro 8 years ago

  I saw a bright green light explode. While I was driving. I made a wish. Guess what I wished for…..to see it again cuz it looked amazing! Not lying

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• amsadmin 8 years ago

  Perseid Observations August 11 from Southern California

  I woke at 2330 PDT and looked outside at totally overcast skies. I couldn’t have been happier as I knew these low level clouds along the coast would act as a shield and provide me with darker skies from my mountain site some 80km east of San Diego. It took me 30 minutes to load the truck and I was on my way near midnight. The clouds began to break near the 600m marker and by another 300m it was totally clear. I saw my first meteor as I drove past my Alpine site, which has a great southern horizon but a poor northern one. I was driving to the western slopes of Mt. Laguna, overlooking the little town of Pine Valley. When I arrived there were scattered cars where people were hoping to catch a few meteors. The sky was perfectly clear and dark. There was still an obvious light dome 10 degrees high in the NW (Los Angeles). The San Diego light dome was effectively muted by the clouds but still there. The Milky Way could be traced down to about 10 degrees high above it. The eastern portion of the sky was awesome as the hills to the east blocked any light from the desert communities.

  I started counting at 0100 PDT. There was a breeze out of the southeast which made the temperature of 19C seem a bit cooler. A blanket was needed to keep comfortable. The breeze was off and on all morning long. It never was bothersome and probably kept the mosquitoes away as I heard only 1 buzzer all morning long. There as no bothersome dew as the humidity was only 29%. Meteor activity generally increased as the morning progressed. I noticed a dip in the Perseid activity during the second hour but a surge in the sporadic activity made up for that. I was facing due north at an elevation of 50 degrees. The northern radiants were within my field of view plus I could distinguish those strikingly fast meteors shooting northward from Eridanus. The other southern radiants were way behind me so I couldn’t distinguish the activity from the CAP’S, ANT’S, or the SDA’s. Any meteor entering my field of view from the south and southwest was called a sporadic.

  The first meteor of the night was a nice, bright and slow Kappa Cygnid. Unfortunately it would be the only one I would see. The Perseids did not impress me with bright meteors until the last hour before dawn. There were often long gaps in the activity which was frustrating. It just made no sense at times to go 5 and 6 minutes without seeing a meteors under such splendid skies. I kept an eye out for possible beta Perseids and only recorded 2 possible members during my 3rd hour. The most impressive meteor of the night was not the brightest. It only peaked at 2nd magnitude but lasted several seconds as it slowly moved upward from the northern horizon and extinguished in Ursa Minor.

  It was great to get out again under truly dark skies. It had been nearly 4 months since my last opportunity to view from here. The forecast appears promising for tonight so I look forward to seeing many more meteors.

  Robert Lunsford

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• amsadmin 8 years ago

  August 12 Perseid Observations from Southern California

  During Thursday afternoon there was a surge of tropical moisture into the area. When this moisture rose over the mountains it created towering cumulus clouds. Luckily, this was not a strong surge and these clouds dissipated soon after sundown. The moisture also disrupted the marine layer and the low level stratus that blocked a lot of city lights the night before was not present tonight. When I arrive at my viewing site near 11:30pm PDT, it was full of cars and I was lucky to find my favorite parking site still unoccupied. The traffic driving up the curving mountain road was non-stop most of the night. I usually have only 1-2 cars pass all night long!

  I had to face half-way up toward the south to avoid the headlights. The sky was impressive but there was a layer of haze 20 degrees high in all directions. It was especially bad in the west toward San Diego plus the waxing gibbous moon was in that direction during my first hour of viewing. The humidity was much higher tonight and the limiting magnitude as not quite as good as it had been the previous night. By facing south I could not distinguish the beta Perseids from the much more numerous regular ones. I could have probably seen any kappa Cygnids had they shot my way, but none did.

  The first hour was good considering the moon was still bright for most of it. At 12:42 I saw a bright flash reflected in the back window of my truck. I turned around in time to see a fading Perseid train. The crowd enjoyed that one but really went nuts two minutes later when a slow Anthelion fireball shot through Aquarius and Pisces and disappeared just over the hill toward the east. Now I did catch that meteor and it was awesome! It peaked at an estimated magnitude -8 and actually split in two before extinguishing. The most impressive feature was the strong aqua color and golden sparks that were present.

  Once the moon set near 1am PDT, the activity seemed to kick into high gear. There were moments when 2-3 Perseids were visible within seconds. There were also lulls in the action but rarely did more than 2 minutes pass without seeing a meteor. The second and third hour produced about a Perseid a minute. The fourth really kicked into high gear as 93 Perseids were seen during that hour. It’s interesting to note that the last minute of this hour produced 7 Perseids while the first minute of the next hour produced none! The brightest Perseids of the night, magnitudes -6 and -5, also occurred within two minutes of each other during this strong period.

  Overall, it was the most satisfying Perseid display I have seen since the 1990’s. I was glad to get the time off from work and although I lost two days of wages, it was still well worth it!

  Robert Lunsford

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• amsadmin 8 years ago

  August 13 Perseid Observations from Maryland

  I was able to watch meteors this morning for an hour and forty minutes. I was amazed how transparent and dark the sky was in Bel Alton! I expected the sky to be hazy due to the heat, but no. I was amazed at the transparent and comparatively ‘dark’ sky I had at this nearly sea level site. It was 79 degrees F and humid, so I expected very hazy conditions. Instead the sky was one of the best I’ve seen from this site in the 10 or so years I’ve been using it for observations.

  The most beautiful and startling fireball of the morning was a -6 that came from behind me as I faced east. I saw the last 30+ degrees of it as it ended near Aries. It seemed slow, about 1.5-2 seconds in duration. It was a pale green with an orange-ish fringe and some sparks that followed its course. It did not leave a long-enduring train. I suspect it was a Capricornid but since that radiant was behind me I could not confirm it. The morning’s yield was 31 Perseids, ranging from -3 to +5 magnitudes. Two of the 31 were -3 fireballs. Sixteen sporadic meteors were seen, ranging from -6 to +5 in magnitude.

  Richard Taibi

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• amsadmin 8 years ago

  Here’s my Perseids summary report for 6 days, leading up to and including the main event on the 12th-13th.

  Location: Cottonwood, central valley, northern California
  Skies: Unrestricted all nights. Est. Min. magnitude: ~4.5
  Viewing orientation: Facing eastern horizon
  Viewing days 8-07 thru 8-13
  Viewing time start: ~0100 – 0200 LDT (0800-0900 UTC)
  Viewing duration: 2 – 3.5 hrs (day dependent)
  General Comments:
  Max Perseids Zhr occurred 0100-0130 LDT on 8-12. Zhr was ~80 during this time with several fireballs and very bright meteors with visible trails. Note my viewing time appears to have started near the end of the US outburst, so peak Zhr rates were likely higher. After 0200, meteors rates fell off significantly, with fewer fireballs and bright meteors. Note: for all viewing days, maximum activity tended to peak (both sporadics and Perseids) between 0130 and 0300 LDT. Meteors after 0300 trended smaller with fewer bright meteors or meteors with long trails. Brightest meteor seen was a fragmenting bolide @ 0258 on 8-13 which produced a vivid smoke trail with residual blueish afterglow lasting ~30 seconds. This was the only bolide seen, as well as the only one with a luminous afterglow.
  High Sporadic rates noted rates throughout multi-day period, occasionally (twice) seen in minor flurries of 3-4 within ~10 sec. Most tracked S-N, and lesser amounts W-E. Very few N-S or E-W oriented sporadics noted, Several sporadics were very bright with smoke trains, but no residual afterglow. Sporadics also featured most of the more vividly colored meteors including all the greens (3).

  Data summary:
  8-08-16: 0200 – 0430 hrs.
  72 total meteors, 42 Perseids with numerous very bright meteors and 3 fireballs. Sporadic rates elevated. Tracks showed strong S-N tendencies. Observed Perseid activity strongly favoring visual locations south of Perseus… oftentimes beginning and ending near the far southern horizon. Many of the brightest Perseids occurred in this quadrant.
  8-09-16: 0200 – 0400 hrs.
  54 total meteors, 22 Perseids. Trends in location and direction of both sporadic and Perseid meteor remained unchanged from previous night. Overall meteor rate compared to 8-08 decidedly less.
  8-10-16 through 08-11-16: 0200-0400 hrs
  42-61 total meteors, 26-40 Perseids. Same general activity pattern as 8-09, with brightest meteors occurring before 0230 LDT. Zhr slowly diminishing to ~ 20/hr.
  8-12-16 0100-0430 hrs.
  Shower peak 0100 – 0130 (coinciding with the very start of my viewing session)
  207 total meteors, 148 Perseids. Highest Zhr between 0100 and 0200 ~ 80/hr. Zhr then dropped to ~ 50 thereafter. Overall Zhr pretty consistent at 50-60/hr. No other significant outbursts noted, with brief flurries of only 2-3 meteors at a time.
  8-13-16: 0130-0330 hrs
  106 total meteors, 73 Perseids. Zhr steady at ~ 40/hr. Noted a flurry of 8 bright Perseids with 2 fireballs between 0130 and 0215. Additionally, two bright slow-speed sporadics tracking S-N produced long smoke trails but no residual afterglow. One fragmenting Perseid bolide with a observed afterglow of ~ 30 sec. noted at 0258 hrs. Was the brightest meteor seen for the entire week.
  Other notes for the entire week of viewing (12 hrs total):
  # Red meteors: 13
  # Blue meteors: 08
  # Green meteors: 3
  # Fireballs (> -5 Vm): 9
  # Bolides: 1
  # with afterglow: 1

  Craig Heden

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• amsadmin 8 years ago

  From Mathias, West Virginia we had a nice show of Perseids. From 4:30 to 6:30 UT (12:30 to 2:30 AM EDT), there was a -4 and -3 magnitude fireballs, three -2 magnitude, and seven -1 Perseids. The average Perseid was 1.7 magnitude and left a persistent train. There were 55 Perseids the first hour and 70 the second hour. I should have kept recording as the rates were much higher around 8:00 UT. There were no clouds and the average LM was about 6.5 magnitude.

  George Gliba

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• Vivek Jazz 8 years ago

  Thank you.

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