by Bernie Verreau
I haven't been an active observer lately and rarely post to this list, but I thought I'd share some impressions from last night's shower. Here's a report I sent to family and friends around the country...
Hello again after a long night of stargazing. I'm told that some people had trouble with the previous message sent. I guess the attached web page may have been incompatible with some email programs. Here's a simple link you may have better luck with: http://www.msnbc.com/news/653572.asp
I also heard that the weather was uncooperative in some locations, so I'll make a quick report on what I observed from my backyard in Northern California. We had exceptionally clear skies for most of the night. Although the usual area light polution cut down on the numbers, it was still a fantastic display! I first checked about 12:30am (PDT) and saw a few meteors but didn't set up for extended viewing until 2:00 or so. By then the show was really under way. The meteors left long. luminous trails and were very bright. Some appeared to explode in a bright flash at the end. They also appeared to be heavily clustered. If one appeared in one part of the sky, two or more usually followed within seconds. Some split into multiple trails and all moved very fast. It gave you a sense of the extreme velocities involved. It reached a peak around 2:30 with over a hundred a minute. They were coming so fast, it looked like a clock face around the radiant point in Leo. Bang, bang, bang they were firing from every hour angle and others filled the sky 90d away from the origin point. I can only imagine what it would have been like in a truly dark sky. After that the rate subsided until a final flurry around 3:15. There were at least a dozen simultaneous bursts bright enough to shine through the thin haze that was starting to move in. The frequency dropped off and the night started to get cold and damp, so I packed it in. It was the biggest shower I've witnessed since the 1966 occurrence of the same group and likely the best I'll ever see with the next favorable event being in 99 years. :)
If you were shut out last night, it may be worth another look tomorrow morning. The predicted main shower is past, but there are always a few strays and unexpected flurries in the days that follow. Good luck and happy stargazing!