Society for Popular Astronomy

[Alastair McBeath]

We've a dark-sky Perseid maximum in prospect soon, thanks to new Moon on August 10. The shower's peak is due between 18:30 UT on August 12 to 07:00 UT on August 13, most likely at some stage from about 23:30 to 02:00 UT. It should produce Zenithal Hourly Rates (ZHRs) of around 100. Observed rates, as usual, will be below this calculated value, but could still reach a meteor a minute or more on the maximum night, if your skies are as clear and dark as possible.

The most plausible peak interval is very favourable for Britain, as the Perseid radiant, a few degrees northeast of the "Double Cluster" near the maximum, can be usefully-observed from roughly 22h UT onwards, culminating after dawn. Perseids are swift, often bright, and commonly trained meteors, and those hoping to image some may find their capture rates enhanced by aiming towards And-Cas-Peg-Cyg.

The shower is already active (it began around July 17) and lasts through till about August 24. Although rates are always lower away from the peak, observed activity is usually good to very good for a couple of days before the maximum plus a day or so afterwards. This is important to remember if it seems the actual peak night may be clouded-out.

Further information on the Perseids and other showers active simultaneously, including a Perseid radiant chart, is on August's SPA meteor activity webpage, at:

http://www.popastro.com/sections/meteor/meteor-aug2010.htm .

Good luck, and clear skies!

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

[Davej]

Hi Alastair,
Looking forward to this one.
The Moon will be playing it's part, let's hope the weather does the same .
All the best.
Dave
_________________
Meade LX 200 (7"). Odyssey 8" Dob.
11X80 10x50 15x70 bins
Celestron Neximage ccd cam

[Alastair McBeath]

For anyone who ends up clouded-out, or who just wants to keep up with how the Perseids are progressing, see the "live" International Meteor Organization's special Perseid results webpage at:

http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2010/ .

This does change every time fresh information is added to the database, and isn't definitive, because it has to make assumptions to compute its ZHRs in real-time without human supervision. However, it can be a helpful guide to what has most likely been happening.

August's weather has been mixed here in Northumberland so far, though not as bad as dismal July's. Any clearer skies have tended to happen for me only after moonrise so far unfortunately, though I have spotted a couple of Perseids by-chance when casually checking the sky even so.

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

[andyT]

hi all,looking forward to this years shower again.
i have a week off work now,so planning a few nights watches if the weather plays ball.
andy
_________________
4'' refractor
zeiss 10x50,
helios 11x80.
Leica BN 8x32,
Helios 13-40x80 bins

[@@]

damn it im on earlies, ill have to try and get friday off
_________________
jessops 10x50 binos
skymax 127
J Perez 670 guitar

[@@]

yipee ive managed to wangle friday off work, all as i need now is the weather
_________________
jessops 10x50 binos
skymax 127
J Perez 670 guitar

[david entwistle]

[andyT]

[andyT]

hi all,had an informal meteor watch last evening from approx 11.50pm
till around 2am.saw a total of 28 meteors,mostly high and fast,mostly from the constellation of cassiopeia.saw a nice one travelling in an easterly direction,just below perseus,a yellow/white colour,left a small trail too.it's the best count on the 10th of august i've had for many a year.
mostly faint,but fast.
lets hope the weather is kind to all observers.
andy
_________________
4'' refractor
zeiss 10x50,
helios 11x80.
Leica BN 8x32,
Helios 13-40x80 bins

[Alastair McBeath]

The International Astronomical Union announced a few days ago the possibility the Earth might encounter an outlying part of the dust trail laid down by the Perseids' parent comet, 109P/Swift-Tuttle, in 1479, around 16:50 UT on August 12. Theoretical modelling has indicated the stream itself will probably miss the Earth, so it's uncertain what, if any, effect this might have on Perseid rates. It's just of academic interest for British visual observers, of course, falling in our daytime, though radio observers might catch something of whatever happens then, despite the radiant being at about its lowest for the day near 17h.

Glad to see you'd had some decent skies Andy. I've had one or two more reports in from earlier this week as well, but daren't comment yet just in case the weather's listening!

Observing conditions picked-up markedly here in NE England on August 9-10, with a clear, very transparent (limiting magnitude - LM - +6.3) sky. In a total of 90 minutes' meteor-watching between ~23:30-01:30 UT, I saw 22 Perseids, 14 sporadics and a couple of Delta Aquarids. There were some fine, bright Perseids (nine were of mag 0 or brighter), the best of which was a flaring mag -3 blue-violet fireball that shot through southern Auriga at 00:46 UT, leaving an 8-sec train.

Best of luck everyone for the next few nights!

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

[andyT]

evening Alastair,yes the conditions were lovely last night,hoping for meteor watches this evening,tomorrow,friday and saturday.it was an informal watch last evening,hoping to to a more detailed watch now.i have some thick cloud heading to me from the west as i type,but i'm hoping it clears.lets hope for some good observations,good luck all.
rgds,
andy
_________________
4'' refractor
zeiss 10x50,
helios 11x80.
Leica BN 8x32,
Helios 13-40x80 bins

[mike a feist]

Very clear sky here early this morning and during a couple of hours observing Jupiter and Uranus and various other objects (see below) Isaw 4 Perseids: The sky clarity was so good that the "Double-Cluster" was obvious to the unaided eye and I think that I could also see the M31 Andromeda Galaxy without aid. M33 Tri was obvious as a large faint patch in 60mm spotting scope and M81 and M82 clearly visible and as distinctly different in appearance. I also used 8 x 56 binoculars and a 50mm spotting scope. The Milky Way was unbelievably clear and you could see irregularites in it with just your eyes. All this from my fairly dark garden if I stood against the 6ft fence to hide a neighbour's toilet window light. I had a go at looking for the comet in Cetus but was really too low - and in the direction of the light. I only have rough details of the Perseids I saw......I seem to have lost the piece of paper on which I jotted down the times etc but (1) was medium bright though Andromeda (2) faint up through Cepheus (3) very bright through Aquarius (4) a very bright, long one, towards Cepheus, which left a short-lasting train. maf

[Naplesnut]

My astronomical society SEKAS did our annual Perseid meteor watch and BBQ last nite from our observing field outside Canterbury. Cloud was only occasionally broken but gave the opportunity to show new and young members Jupiter, m57, m13 etc. After midnight we had total clear skies and saw all the unaided eye objects mentioned by maf in previous post. Good view of m81 and 82 thro 8inch reflector although too much distant skyglow to see m51 and 101 in Ursa Major very well. Four of us did a count from 0050-0120BST and saw over 20 meteors giving an hourly rate of about 50. Not bad going for a non-peak nite.
_________________
7x50 bins, 80mm f5 refractor on EQ1, 80mm f7.5 apo refractor on EQ2, 200mm f5 reflector on Dobsonian mount, 203mm f10 SCT with RA drive. Doing astronomy the old-fashioned way, no Go-To just eyes, charts and time.

[HippyChippy]

Clear skies and good luck to you all; Observed 17 in the hour before midnight (BST) on Tuesday so much looking forward tonight.

Ever the optimist

[@@]

right now, 22.54 BST, things are just begining to improve. just poped out to check visibility. still quite a bit of broken patchy cloud around but good large areas of clear sky and 2 decent, very fast, meteors through the back end of cygnus one after the other within a couple of mins keep your fingers crossed
_________________
jessops 10x50 binos
skymax 127
J Perez 670 guitar