Initial reports and analysis of observations.
|
|
2005 Perseids - a first look at the results |
|
|
|
In pleasant contrast with the virtual washout a year previously, weather conditions for the core part of the Perseids in 2005 were reasonably favourable. Best skies were found in the southern UK, where some fortunate observers managed to put in productive meteor watches on seven consecutive nights from August 6-7 to 12-13 inclusive. The fine weather broke to cloud and rain on Aug 13-14, which at this writing is the only night for which the BAA Meteor Section lacks coverage during the most active parts of this year’s Perseid return. Clear skies were back for Aug 14-15 and 15-16, after which the waxing gibbous Moon, setting late in the night, became too intrusive to allow continued observations of the Perseids’ decline. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
2004 Geminids Report |
|
|
|
Circumstances for this shower – currently the most prolific of the year – should have been ideal in 2004, with New Moon on December 12, and maximum expected around Dec 13d 16h UT, presenting high rates for UK observers on the evening of December 13-14. In the event, weather proved terrible across the UK: observations were limited by hazy skies before peak, and stormy conditions on maximum night, which was best-favoured over North Wales/NW England and, briefly, the Moray Firth. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
2004 Perseids Report |
|
|
|
Having been adversely affected by strong moonlight at their maximum in 2003, the 2004 Perseids were keenly anticipated by Meteor Section observers, hoping for high activity in dark skies: the Moon would be New on 15 August, meaning that only a thin, late-rising crescent would affect conditions close to the shower’s 12-13 August peak. The previous well-observed return, in 2002, produced the usual strong Perseid maximum, with sky- and radiant altitude-corrected Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of the order of 80 on 12-13 Aug, but no indication of unusual activity was seen: between 1988 and 1996 (and especially in 1993-4), additional strong early peaks had been noted in association with the 1992 perihelion of the Perseids’ parent, Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
2004 Leonids Report |
|
|
|
Following several years in which enhanced activity has been clearly apparent, the Leonids were expected to show rather more ‘normal’ rates in 2004, with their parent, Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, now more than six years past perihelion. By this time, encounters between Earth and the denser ‘ortho Leonid’ material relatively close to the parent comet’s nucleus can be considered less likely, and we should see a return to the lower (though still respectable) ‘clino Leonid’ activity seen in, say, the 1980s. In recent years a revised model of the ortho Leonids has emerged, based on distinct ‘filaments’ of debris shed from the comet at separate perihelion returns. This model has been used successfully by David Asher and Robert McNaught, Esko Lyytinen and others to predict the timing (though not necessarily the intensity) of strong, even storm, peaks in the Leonids between 1999 and 2002. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
2004 Perseids - Images |
|
|
|
Some images captured of Perseids in 2004. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
2000 Pons-Winneckids Report |
|
|
|
On 1998 June 27-28, alert observers spotted an outburst from this once-prolific shower, which had been presumed extinct since 1927. The 1998 return brought rates of a meteor per minute throughout the night, from a radiant in the north of Bootes. Events like this are a valuable reminder to experienced observers, particularly, that it’s often worth going out to observe, even when no major shower activity is expected! |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Observing Reports