Perseids Meteor Watch in Cudham

Event is CONFIRMED ON for tonight.

http://www.need-less.org.uk/

Great fun, Tej!

It says around 7.2 for where I often go in Scotland which seems maybe a little ambitious, but I'm working from memory, not hard calculation. Also, when I was out in winter up there it was too damn cold to stay out for longer than necessary to do my coursework projects before heading back inside to get warmed up by a dram or three! When it gets dark again I'll put some effort into figuring out what the LM is up there under ideal conditions.

Unfortunately clouded out so no sightings tonight.

From a quick skim of the photos I took in Cudham this evening, it looks like I've picked up 2 Perseids, but am rather tired, so I'll confirm at some point tomorrow and will post the pictures if they look OK.

A very enjoyable session at Cudham... clouded out from just after midnight, but we saw a fair number of bright meteors.

Will report more fully once I've had some sleep!

I've had to convince myself that I did pick up a Perseid, but I'm pretty certain that I've picked one up, based on the trajectory... it certainly seems to be directly on the radiant. Both ends of the streak are tapered, suggesting a meteor... the only thing I was puzzling over was the lack of colour, but taking everything into account, I'm claiming this as a Perseid!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Perseid Cudham August 13/14 2014[/caption]

I do have another image that I'm 70% certain is a Perseid, but I'll just go with this one!

Despite a fair amount of cloud (see above!), it was a very enjoyable evening, with great company. I counted around 20 people at the recreation ground at Cudham at one stage in the evening, so a pretty good turnout for a, frankly, below-par Perseid meteor shower. The Moon was a real problem... it was almost like daylight at times, with our shadows well defined on the ground and, unlike last year, it was possible to see who you were talking to without relying on recognising their voice!

Still, it was worthwhile doing. I saw about 6 or 7 meteors before the clouds got really heavy at around 12:15 or so. There were quite a few that I missed... but I knew about their presence from the 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the other attendees. Not as good a show as last year, but great fun nonetheless.

Thanks to Nick for kindly dropping me off to my house, tonight.

I really enjoyed my first meteor watch evening.  I engaged my "oohs" counter to test the accuracy of Mikes predicted number of meteor sightings per hour and lo and behold there were 7 "oh wows" in the first hour, exactly the number he predicted!  I saw five altogether myself and they were very bright albeit  split second streaks.  So it was nice to bag my first set of meteor watch 🙂  I hope next time I can witness a fireball that Nick and Mike described.

The second hour however, brought in more clouds and a couple of sporadic short meteor bursts. We had an unexpected visit by the ISS too!

And it was a nice bonus to see the M13 globular cluster and Ring Nebula through Ruperts fantastic 100mm APM binocular telescope.

Another highlight was Barry's chocolate peanut brownies!  That was yummy.

I also took the opportunity to have a go at photographing the night sky for the first time, which Nick was also doing for the first time too, so we shared beginners tips with each other.   Nick did the proper thing by having earthly objects in the foreground but I had the silly idea of trying my luck in having the "Big Dipper" fry up a meteor, so I pointed my camera solely at that with no earthly foreground.  For two hours I had my camera clicking away.  But all I got after scouring my crappy beginner pictures was a dinky little meteor below the plough.  Its rubbish but at least I caught something in my first set of night sky pics.  I obviously needed it better focussed and my exposure/ISO settings were certainly not ideal either.  I should have done more test pics at the beginning but I was too impatient to sit down and enjoy the skies with my eyes 🙂

And here is Mike adding much needed special effects to my pitiful pics 🙂

Doh, I just realised my one is not a perseid, its going in the completely wrong direction!   Mike, your pic is awesome.

a dinky little meteor below the plough

Don't knock it, Tej... that's more than I picked up last year, when there was a much better show! Anyway, I'm quite certain that I must have blocked a really bright meteor by standing in front of your camera! Sorry about that...

Even if it's not a Perseid, as you now suspect, it's still a good capture. Thanks for your kind comment about my picture.

Just to prove your point about the increasing clouds as the evening went on, rather than waste my pictures, I've put together the following time-lapse which shows the night sky from around 11pm to about 12:30am. Nowhere near as good as Sumitra's on another thread... but it certainly looks dramatic given the increasing cloud.

[vimeo] http://www.vimeo.com/103423696 [/vimeo]

[Music is the intro to "Light from a Dead Star" by Lush... blimey, showing my age now]

Oh, and yes, thanks for reminding me Tej. Barry's chocolate peanut brownies were spectacular! Many thanks indeed, Barry!!

Excellent time lapse, Mike.   I see a few meteor streaks in there!  Or are they something else?

I just realise i do have a few more faint meteors in my other pictures too but the settings are not attractive so I am trashing them all.

I see a few meteor streaks in there!  Or are they something else?

Wish I could claim them! No, they are mostly satellites or planes. There are probably only 2 meteors in the whole time-lapse. Goes to show how much activity is up there!

Nice camera work Mike. That little burst at the end of the end of the tail does suggest a meteor and I enjoyed the time lapse and its mystical soundtrack. Its a shame you didn't bring your synthesizer along last night to add to the ethereal atmosphere and provide an accompaniment to the oohs and ahhs.

Well caught Tej. I had my camera trained at the Plough most of the session but missed that one. My hopes were raised by one frame which, on first glance showed a meteor trail, but on closer examination was probably an Iridium Flare. Oh well there is always next year! I was thinking, perhaps a bad idea, but with all those cameras snapping away and probably in the same direction would it be worth organising ourselves next time to cover as much of the sky as possible?  I'll take the bit that hasn't got the moon in it.

Nice camera work Mike.

Thanks Clive. I'm not sure you'd have appreciated my keyboard playing... in fact, it's quite likely we'd have all been arrested for crimes against music 😉

I was thinking .... with all those cameras snapping away and probably in the same direction would it be worth organising ourselves next time to cover as much of the sky as possible?

What a brilliant idea. Yes, we should certainly do this. I've just looked at the sky chart for next year, and, rather marvellously, the Moon is well out of the way - it's a 28 day old waning crescent on 12 August 2015, so doesn't rise until 3.30am! Perfect conditions... looking forward to it already!

We could, of course, do the Geminids in December (peak December 13/14), if we want to freeze to death in an open field... the Moon is reasonably favourable - rising at 1.30am. If there's snow on the ground, I'm not doing it 😉

Nice timelapse, Mike!!

I wish I had been there with you all! 🙂

And here's a second time-lapse from my other camera pointing north. Cloud cover was even worse in this direction!

[vimeo] http://www.vimeo.com/103510896 [/vimeo]

I see a few meteor streaks in there!  Or are they something else?

Tej, your words have reminded me of an old song by Billy Bragg (but best performed by the late, great Kirsty MacColl - sample attached)... called "A New England"... and it has the following prescient lyrics:

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care