Night of the Perseids

Object : Meteor Shower (Perseids)
Date : August 12/13 2010
Time : 12:55-01:55 LST / 07:55-08:55 UT
Location : Harquahala Mountain Range, Arizona USA
Medium : Charcoal pencils, white paper, paintbrush used as stump
Detector : Visual observation
Magnitude : Varying from 5 to -2 give or take a notch
Weather : Clear Moonless skies, calm winds and temperature in the mid 70’s

Comments :

I could’ve titled it “It’s A Dry Shower” but the Southwest humor
might not have gone far beyond Arizona. Anyway, lets drop the
umbrella and enjoy what was for some, one of the best showers ever
both in spectacle and rate or number of shooting stars. Data from
the International Meteor Organization (IMO) indicated that the Zenith Hourly Rate
(ZHR) peaked at 140 meteors per hour! From the
various meteor showers occuring throughout the year, the Perseids
in my opinion, are the “Best of Show” in that category.

The young waxing Moon along with a parade of planets went under the
horizon just in perfect time, a determining factor that helps in
bringing out even the faintest glowing granules of cometary debris.
They say to bring along a partner for otherwise it can get lonely
and quiet at times. My helpful assistant and wife was with me all
through the night. Staring at the sky for prolonged periods can be
easier by casual conversation with some company. My first hour
started at 9 pm LST. For the next 60 minutes a total of 14 Perseid
meteor streaks was all I recorded on my notes 3 were sporadics. The
following hour, at 10 pm LST, I ended with a count of 19 Perseids.
10 were from a combination of sporadic and Capricornids. At 11:15
pm LST, after a small break, I started the count again. This next
hour gave me a total of 39 Perseids.I decided at this time to get
my pad and pencils along with a pre-plotted star chart. All I had
to do next was doodle in everything that the sky would throw at me
including an incredibly bright Milky Way in the background.During
the next hour from 12:55 to 01:55 am LST, over 52 meteors were
immortalized on my sketch pad. A good deal of them left persistent
trains or smoke trails that soon vanished or dispersed with the
wind. Some of those that burned the brightest to a magnitude of -2
left their trail glowing with iridescent colors, the most
noticeable was a neon greenish hue. This color is attributed to a
meteor with a high composition of magnesium according to Astronomy magazine.
To the unaided eye, the persistent trains seemed to last
about 2 to 4 seconds in the air. However, I grabbed the binoculars
and noticed that the gaseous trail was still lingering far longer
than a few seconds. Those persistent trains lasted on some
occasions up to 10 to 15 seconds up until they finally broke or
disintegrated into nothingness.

I can add more blah,blah,blah but this is good enough for now!
Wishing you dark and clear skies,

Juanchin