Perseids Activity Levels

Sadly, I am not free to come tonight 🙁

But I am free tomorrow and looking at the satellite cloud forecast, Friday looks to be the best night for this.  So, I will have to do a lone venture somewhere tomorrow tonight to enjoy this event.   If anyone is hungry  for more perseids after tonights Flamsteed event or not free tonight either, are welcome to join me tomorrow.  Although not being a driver, I aim to go somewhere to stay overnight at a b&b or campsite...if I find any available, that is, as its always a quite hard to find one available on a friday night.

Enjoy your meteor watch tonight, though!

I hope you all had a nice meteor shower display, last night.   Any photos, Mike, or anyone else?

One other Flamsteed member and myself are driving up to Knole House Deer Park near Sevenoaks, tonight, for a meteor show and then drive back to London around 2am.  If any other Flamsteed member like to join us, are very welcome.   Cloud forecast is very clear skies until around 2:30am.  Moon sets about 12:30am.

Any photos, Mike, or anyone else?

Only had time to process one, Tej.

Here it is:

Perseid meteor - 11Aug2016 - taken from Cudham by Mike Meynell, on Flickr

Good luck for tonight. If it's anything like last night, it'll be good. A definite outburst on display last night - several occasions when we saw 3 or 4 meteors in a minute or so.

Excellent Mike, I did see it already on your Flickr.   Glad you all had a good show.  3-4 meteors, wow, thats a lot!  Wish I was there.

Did you point your camera at Perseus or a bit away from it?  Did you still see any meteors while the moon was still up?

Did you point your camera at Perseus or a bit away from it?

A little away from it... about 10-20 degrees more towards the north. I wanted Polaris in the frame so I could get some star trails done (haven't processed them yet!). It's also usually best to point slightly off the radiant... you tend to get longer meteor trails.

The colouring of that trail is extraordinary. Is that genuine or a by-product of the processing???

The colouring of that trail is extraordinary. Is that genuine or a by-product of the processing???

The colours are real, Andy. It's not always possible to see with the eye, though you often see a green tinge to bright meteor trails. With the camera, though, it's possible to see the colours more clearly.

The colour is caused by light emitted from metal atoms from the meteor (blue, green, and yellow) and light emitted by atoms and molecules of the air (red).

From Wikipedia:

The visible light produced by a meteor may take on various hues, depending on the chemical composition of the meteoroid, and the speed of its movement through the atmosphere. As layers of the meteoroid abrade and ionize, the colour of the light emitted may change according to the layering of minerals. Colours of meteors depend on the relative influence of the metallic content of the meteoroid versus the superheated air plasma, which its passage engenders:

• Orange-yellow (sodium)
• Yellow (iron)
• Blue-green (magnesium)
• Violet (calcium)
• Red (atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen)

Cool. Thanks, Mike.

Does that mean that, looking at the colouring of the streak in isolation, you could tell its direction of travel as it moves through different densities of the atmosphere?

Does that mean that, looking at the colouring of the streak in isolation, you could tell its direction of travel as it moves through different densities of the atmosphere?

Yes, that's correct Andy. In this case, right to left across the field of view.

However, it's even easier in this frame. The radiant of the Perseids is close to the Double Cluster in Perseus (the cluster of stars to the right of the image) and the comet is coming directly from that area. So, definitely a Perseid, and definitely travelling right to left.