Perseid Report

Hi all,

Just wondering how people got on with viewing the Perseids last night?

The weather looked pretty bad here in Galway at 22:00 so I went to bed there and then (I had work) setting my alarm for 02:30. When I woke, the sky was partly clear so I went outside. The house is nicely outside Galway city, and so had reasonably dark skies.

The first 15 minutes seemed really poor as I only saw 3 meteors from a mostly clear sky. Then things changed. 3 went by within a couple of seconds of each other, heralding a very active 20 minute period. I reckon I saw 30+ within this time before it again clouded up.

I went back to bed, setting my alarm for 03:30 but failed to wake up. I'm not sure I missed anything more, however, since at 06:00 it was steadily raining.

Given the Irish weather, I was pleased enough with what I got.

Regards,

Daniel

Daniel, I had no joy last night, It clouded in about 9pm and rained until 2pm today It's clear now and i've checked the weather for tonight, hopefully it will be clear?, I'm going to bring out the slr camera and hopefully get a few shots!

Keith...

hi all, went out to Spiddal west of Galway at 2240 following a clearence in the cloud, saw a quick burst of 5 meteors one fireball going from zenith on into saggitarius and lots of lightning around the northern horizon. Then jumped in the car and drove 20 miles west with a heavy right foot out deep into Conemara wher i got another clear spell lasting with 60% of the sky clear inc all of the northern part which lasted 20 mins from around 2330 , 10 meteors as i headed back to galway pulled over at 0030, sk was nearly fully clear, 5 more Perseids, Not a bad night at all here.

Ronan Newman

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Galway Astronomy Club

Clouded (washed) out here in Kerry last night, and its just clearing now (21:45 on the 12th). I saw 10 Persieds and 7 sporadics in an hour (23:45 to 0:45 BST) on the previous night with an LM of about 5.2

May be I will see some more tonight!

Michael Scully. KAC / SAC

All was cloudy and wet here in Limerick also,
I just didnt feel like taking off across the country to try and get a glimpse this time around.

Hi all,

here in Tullamore, we had a very productive night! Members who came:
Seanie Morris, Michael O'Connell, Shane Culleton, David Daly, Mark Hurson, and at one stage over the phone, Bob Campbell.
We all met at the TAS Observatory at about 10:30pm, and setup the gear. We had 3 binoculars and 1 telescope.

(by the way, Michael is beside me here!)

The activity was superb, we had terrific clear skies from about 11:30 after the clouds went away, and the show began. We all agreed that ther count was in excess of 110 per hour, with loads of activity through Cygnus (traced back to Perseus) heading south.

One remarkable note:
A Perseid Fireball from Cassiopeia, through Cygnus, and into Aquila. Time: 00:22hrs.
Est. Mag: -3.
White/green in colour.
It left a 17 second ion trail! about 25 degrees long! Unbelievable. We all saw it, and can confirm it.

Activity never really diminished from our location. David left at 00:45hrs, Shane at 01:20hrs, and the rest of us at 02:10hrs. It stayed mostly clear all night, estimated limiting magnitude was +6. The Milky Way was clearly visible with the Cygnus division very obvious. Fog set in about 02:00 hrs, and the troop left standing, very sodden and tired, made their way home!

Sean & Mike.