by Bruce Jensen
From about 1:45 - 3:00, meteors arrived in clumps, often five or six in as many seconds. The peak rate was certainly in the range of about 1000 per hour. Most were short, and near the radiant to the east of Leo's sickle. Some were very bright, and crossed much of the sky. It was quite cold - the dew had frozen on my accessories bag. But we had a dedicated group of about a dozen, with many other groups in the campgrounds or elsewhere in the park.
This is about what we saw from various fairly secluded points in San Antonio Valley and on the east slope of Mt. Hamilton. I say "various" because we spent some time avoiding rather dense valley or tule fog - but when we got away from it (most of the time, thankfully), the sky was dramatically clear and stable, far better than what the early rafts of dense high-level cirrus would have had us expect. I'd estimate the skies were about mag 6 - they had that wonderfully peppery look that the late winter/early spring skies get when the seeing is stable and the ambient light gets very low.
At maximum, I counted about 30 meteors in any given minute, not usually sustained at this level for more than a minute or two running, but reoccurring at substantially this level several times during the 1.5 hour period during which I watched carefully (about 1:15 to 2:45). The great majority of these meteors were very bright, with many fireballs of various colors, and a very well-defined radiant. They occasionally came in clumps of up to 3 or 4 a second, sometimes for several seconds, then quiet for a half minute or so. My 7-year-old son and his friend, despite their complaints of being cold (and they were bundled up quite well!), were very impressed by the show, the first such exhibit that either of them had experienced.
I believe that, when averaged over ten minute periods, we were easily seeing better than 1,200 per hour, and there may have been few periods when the rate exceeded 2,000 per hour. This matches what Peter Jenniskens reported from the ground in Southern California as well.
I have to express some doubt at the figure stated in a quote ascribed to Jim Van Nuland in the SF Chronicle this morning - he stated rates as high as 10,000 per hour. I can see the instantaneous rates maybe approaching this value, but *come on* - there were never sustained rates of 3 - 4 per second for more than a few seconds at a time, and I never saw them significantly exceed this value. Jim, did you really see this? What is the standard averaging period for a meteor shower or storm? I would hope at least five or ten minutes before a rate were to be calculated...
In the distance we could see a huge parade of cars all night long on the Mt. Hamilton Road, in some cases bumper-to-bumper. I can't imagine where all those people went. There are very few places to park anywhere up there. The rangers had closed the gate to the park about 7:00. (One woman was desperately seeking somebody with a cell phone that would work - apparently she had had a run-in with the tire shredder at the park's exit gate.) Some who knew where the star party was walked in all the way from the road, probably close to a mile. When I left around 3:00, there were hundreds of people parked alongside the road just outside the park.
Some of our observing was done during clear periods at
our tent in San Antonio Valley (this night, BTW,
provided some the of the best views of the sky from
SAV I've seen in years, beautifully dark and clear
with the fog dimming the Central Valley glow). Here,
we were absolutely alone - watching the meteors fly
overhead with nothing but the occasional coyote call
and elk bugle (and lowing of the cattle ;-) was one of
the most sublime experiences of peace I've had in
recent memory, in sharp contrast to the almost
relentless stress of the last few years. When we were
out and about on San Antonio Valley Road on the east
side of Mt. Ham, we had a handful of cars passing us
every ten minutes or so...not bad at all, and we used
the van to shield us from the lights.
That's not to say we didn't have our moments of
excitement. A 7-year-old belly full of popcorn and
fruit punch on a winding mountain road in the pitched
dark can have undesirable effects on the bearer of the
belly - and the person responsible for cleaning up the
mess afterward. I know, I found out the hard way at
about 1:30 AM. Yecch!
Anybody know someone who'll deep-clean car upholstery?
Price no object
Otherwise, a memorable and beautiful evening was had
by all.