14 neighbors and family headed out to a friends place in Vernon. It was a pretty good show, similar to Kim's experience. One every 2 or 3 minutes left a nice train. From 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM it got extremely dark because I fell asleep. From 4:00 AM on the moon took away most of the show or else the meteors slowed down. The moon was beautiful with Venus though. Good times. -------------- Original message --------------
I'm surprised to see so many rather negative reports. I suspect it has more to do with folks not observing from a clear, dark site, a must for meteor observing. Our experience at Wolf Creek was great.
We saw many bright (mag 0 to -2 or so) meteors, most of which left trains that lasted two or three seconds. For about an hour beginning at around 11:30, my young son counted 47 Perseids, a respectable rate for a 6-year-old. After a 15-minute nap he insisted on getting up again to see some more, but when he reached 50 he finally threw in the towel and went to sleep. My wife stopped counting at 100 over a period of a couple hours. I only made one attempt at a serious count. Between 12:15 and 12:30 I counted 15 Perseids while observing directly overhead. For last night's conditions at Wolf Creek, that count would yield a ZHR of 60, just what to expect for a good Perseid event. By 5:00, the hour of the predicted maximum, I was too tired to observe seriously, but the Moon and twilight would have made it difficult to determine whether the "peak" rate was any better.
27 years ago last night I proposed to my wife while observing the Perseids from my parents' back yard. Rarely since have conditions allowed for a repeat of the (celestial) activity we experienced then. Last night was an exception.
Kim Hyatt Architect 1849 East 1300 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 801.631.5228 kimharch@msn.com
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I'm not surprised at the "not so good" reviews from the Valley. Not since I was a kid has anything above Salt Lake Valley looked even halfway decent. So would go meteorite showers I would tend to think. I too thought the sky above the pit pretty good. I was pretty busy socializing to actually make a count, but based on the audible "ooohs and ahhhs" scale, I would guess that there were quite a few of these per minute. Everyone seemed to be having a good time watching them. I did notice last night at the pit, while anticipating the meteroite shower, that standing up real quick seemed to drastically increase the number of visible shooters. Although I think I was the only one who could see those, they were pretty cool nonetheless. Hey, thanks to all those who let me gaze through their large aperture scopes. I have to say that it was nice meeting you all. When leaving a dark sky site, is half a mile down the road considered far enough to turn the headlights back on? While trying to make the perfect dark site exit, I may have inadvertently run over some toes, sorry. My apologies also go out to the little creatures trying to cross the dirt road that didn't quite make it. ;) And finally, at 5:30 this morning while laying in wait to catch the neighbor lady's newspaper thief, I did notice how cool the Moon, Venus and Orion looked all in a straight line with each other. Even from the Valley! Good times... Quoting steve.nielsen@comcast.net:
14 neighbors and family headed out to a friends place in Vernon. It was a pretty good show, similar to Kim's experience. One every 2 or 3 minutes left a nice train. From 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM it got extremely dark because I fell asleep. From 4:00 AM on the moon took away most of the show or else the meteors slowed down. The moon was beautiful with Venus though. Good times.
-------------- Original message --------------
I'm surprised to see so many rather negative reports. I suspect it has more to do with folks not observing from a clear, dark site, a must for meteor observing. Our experience at Wolf Creek was great.
We saw many bright (mag 0 to -2 or so) meteors, most of which left trains that lasted two or three seconds. For about an hour beginning at around 11:30, my young son counted 47 Perseids, a respectable rate for a 6-year-old. After a 15-minute nap he insisted on getting up again to see some more, but when he reached 50 he finally threw in the towel and went to sleep. My wife stopped counting at 100 over a period of a couple hours. I only made one attempt at a serious count. Between 12:15 and 12:30 I counted 15 Perseids while observing directly overhead. For last night's conditions at Wolf Creek, that count would yield a ZHR of 60, just what to expect for a good Perseid event. By 5:00, the hour of the predicted maximum, I was too tired to observe seriously, but the Moon and twilight would have made it difficult to determine whether the "peak" rate was any better.
27 years ago last night I proposed to my wife while observing the Perseids from my parents' back yard. Rarely since have conditions allowed for a repeat of the (celestial) activity we experienced then. Last night was an exception.
Kim Hyatt Architect 1849 East 1300 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 801.631.5228 kimharch@msn.com
serius est quam cogitas _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com
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Not all the views from the valley were bad. We were stuck here in Magna helping a student build a telescope. I was able to get out for half an hour near 1 am, and counted at least eight good meteors, and caught the ring nebula in my little 8" F4 (didn't have the time to haul out anything larger). I couldn't see anything very great since there is far too much sky glow, but I was happy with what I did see. Brightest one I saw was probably mag 1 - 0 or around there, easily as bright as Vega, or more so. This one traveled from about the handle of the big dipper to Spica before it disappeared. I wasn't under impressed, but that's probably due to the fact I didn't expect much, or anything from my location. I knew it wasn't going to be prime viewing. Lisa Zeigler
Hi, I was amazed that you made it out of the pit at all! Your eyesight must be a bit better than average. Most people drive out using their running lights, you did not even use those. (I know running lights can be bright, but we don't ask miracles from each other. At least not on a daily basis:).) Usually it is running lights to get out of the general area, maybe a few tenths of a mile, and then full headlights. It depends a little on the road, as a really bad road may call for headlights as soon as you are past the group, and the remaining viewers turn their heads to avoid the brightness. It is a judgement call, but you don't have to risk life and limb. It was nice meeting you last night. See you again soon, Jo Grahn At 11:13 PM 8/12/2004 -0600, you wrote:
I'm not surprised at the "not so good" reviews from the Valley. Not since I was a kid has anything above Salt Lake Valley looked even halfway decent. So would go meteorite showers I would tend to think.
I too thought the sky above the pit pretty good. I was pretty busy socializing to actually make a count, but based on the audible "ooohs and ahhhs" scale, I would guess that there were quite a few of these per minute. Everyone seemed to be having a good time watching them.
I did notice last night at the pit, while anticipating the meteroite shower, that standing up real quick seemed to drastically increase the number of visible shooters. Although I think I was the only one who could see those, they were pretty cool nonetheless. Hey, thanks to all those who let me gaze through their large aperture scopes. I have to say that it was nice meeting you all.
When leaving a dark sky site, is half a mile down the road considered far enough to turn the headlights back on? While trying to make the perfect dark site exit, I may have inadvertently run over some toes, sorry. My apologies also go out to the little creatures trying to cross the dirt road that didn't quite make it. ;)
And finally, at 5:30 this morning while laying in wait to catch the neighbor lady's newspaper thief, I did notice how cool the Moon, Venus and Orion looked all in a straight line with each other. Even from the Valley! Good times...
As far as my night time eyesight goes, all the time my mother thought I was giving my carrots and veggies to the family dog, I was actually eating them. ;) Truth is, I was in my 4 wheel drive and figured if I ran off the road and into a ditch I could shift into 4 wheel drive and proceed forward without having to resort to using my backup lights. I would rather pay money to a Auto Body repair shop than be ridiculed for my lack of dark sky manners on the (Utah-Astronomy) board. ;) just kidding... or am I??? ;) Quoting Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com>:
Hi, I was amazed that you made it out of the pit at all! Your eyesight must be a bit better than average. Most people drive out using their running lights, you did not even use those. (I know running lights can be bright, but we don't ask miracles from each other. At least not on a daily basis:).) Usually it is running lights to get out of the general area, maybe a few tenths of a mile, and then full headlights. It depends a little on the road, as a really bad road may call for headlights as soon as you are past the group, and the remaining viewers turn their heads to avoid the brightness. It is a judgement call, but you don't have to risk life and limb. It was nice meeting you last night. See you again soon, Jo Grahn
At 11:13 PM 8/12/2004 -0600, you wrote:
I'm not surprised at the "not so good" reviews from the Valley. Not since I was a kid has anything above Salt Lake Valley looked even halfway decent. So would go meteorite showers I would tend to think.
I too thought the sky above the pit pretty good. I was pretty busy socializing to actually make a count, but based on the audible "ooohs and ahhhs" scale, I would guess that there were quite a few of these per minute. Everyone seemed to be having a good time watching them.
I did notice last night at the pit, while anticipating the meteroite shower, that standing up real quick seemed to drastically increase the number of visible shooters. Although I think I was the only one who could see those, they were pretty cool nonetheless. Hey, thanks to all those who let me gaze through their large aperture scopes. I have to say that it was nice meeting you all.
When leaving a dark sky site, is half a mile down the road considered far enough to turn the headlights back on? While trying to make the perfect dark site exit, I may have inadvertently run over some toes, sorry. My apologies also go out to the little creatures trying to cross the dirt road that didn't quite make it. ;)
And finally, at 5:30 this morning while laying in wait to catch the neighbor lady's newspaper thief, I did notice how cool the Moon, Venus and Orion looked all in a straight line with each other. Even from the Valley! Good times...
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participants (4)
-
diveboss＠xmission.com -
John and Lisa Zeigler -
Josephine Grahn -
steve.nielsen＠comcast.net