Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

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Unitron48 United States of America
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Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#1

Post by Unitron48 »


Although our Culpeper group is planning a Perseids observing session this Friday/Saturday, I decided to get in a short "somewhat Moonless" session early this morning. In spite of scattered clouds, I was out from 2:50 am until 4:40 am and caught about 9 meteors, mostly Perseids. Several were very bright: one at 4:07 am with a short trail was Capella magnitude; a second at 4:20 am had a very long trail and was at least Jupiter bright! If weather holds, looking forward to longer session this Friday/Saturday and will add to this thread.

In addition to the meteors, it was great seeing the bright planets Mars (near the Pleiades), Jupiter and Saturn. Can't wait to have these planets back in the night sky this Fall!

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#2

Post by Bigzmey »


Well done Dave! Good luck Saturday morning.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
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Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#3

Post by jrkirkham »


I was out last night, but didn't see much more than a great big bright moon.
Rob
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#4

Post by davesellars »


It's really nice to get out at that time... My favourite time for observing is early morning - less light pollution / local LP as well from house lights etc. Well done on fitting all those in and 9 Perseids! Incredibly, as well as Pleiades rising well now at 3am being sufficiently high enough, I managed to spot Betelgeuse low down with Orion rearing its head at 4am... Seems like yesterday I only bid it farewell for the winter as it began to dip down too low for observing.
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#5

Post by Unitron48 »


Bigzmey wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 4:46 pm Well done Dave! Good luck Saturday morning.
Thanks, Andrey! Don't expect to best last year when we observed 167 over two nights (9 and 11 August).

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#6

Post by Unitron48 »


jrkirkham wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:10 pm I was out last night, but didn't see much more than a great big bright moon.
Hi Rob! I know what you mean about the Moon. I timed my observing to start about the time it was setting. Much better!!

Dave
Last edited by Unitron48 on Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#7

Post by Unitron48 »


davesellars wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:55 pm It's really nice to get out at that time... My favourite time for observing is early morning - less light pollution / local LP as well from house lights etc. Well done on fitting all those in and 9 Perseids! Incredibly, as well as Pleiades rising well now at 3am being sufficiently high enough, I managed to spot Betelgeuse low down with Orion rearing its head at 4am... Seems like yesterday I only bid it farewell for the winter as it began to dip down too low for observing.
Totally agree. Seems the world gets a lot "quieter" about that time of the morning. It was nice seeing the Summer Triangle dip into the West, and Auriga fully exposed in the East. Throw in the planets and it makes for a great view :smile:

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#8

Post by helicon »


Thanks for the report Dave. From what I've heard the Perseids won't be as spectacular this year as they normally are. Good luck on Friday, though.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#9

Post by Unitron48 »


Was out again last evening from 11:30 pm until 5 am this morning at Morning calm Observatory checking out the Perseids peak! While the Moon was big and bright, we caught only the "best and brightest" of the Perseid Meteor Shower! Observing 66 meteors in total, most were first magnitude or brighter with lots of them having brilliant green or yellow trails. One at 1:50 am left a brilliant trail that lasted over ten seconds!

We also checked out the visible planets including Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars. While seeing was below average most of the time, using the observatory's 12 inch Meade LX200, we were able to detect four of Saturn's Moons, observed the shadow transit of Europa, picked out Uranus' moon Titania, and identified some surface markings on Mars.

All in all a successful evening I'd say!!

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#10

Post by davesellars »


That's certainly a very productive evening, Dave! Well done staying the course for a long evening and the planetary observations were a great bonus by the sound of it. :)
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#11

Post by Unitron48 »


davesellars wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 12:24 pm That's certainly a very productive evening, Dave! Well done staying the course for a long evening and the planetary observations were a great bonus by the sound of it. :)
Thanks, Dave! The Moon really brought out the best of the shower. I'm certain we missed many in the glow of the Moon, but the ones we did see made up for it in brilliance!! I can't recall ever seeing so many really bright ones.

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#12

Post by Bigzmey »


Unitron48 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:56 am Was out again last evening from 11:30 pm until 5 am this morning at Morning calm Observatory checking out the Perseids peak! While the Moon was big and bright, we caught only the "best and brightest" of the Perseid Meteor Shower! Observing 66 meteors in total, most were first magnitude or brighter with lots of them having brilliant green or yellow trails. One at 1:50 am left a brilliant trail that lasted over ten seconds!

We also checked out the visible planets including Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars. While seeing was below average most of the time, using the observatory's 12 inch Meade LX200, we were able to detect four of Saturn's Moons, observed the shadow transit of Europa, picked out Uranus' moon Titania, and identified some surface markings on Mars.

All in all a successful evening I'd say!!

Dave
Great night Dave! We had rain and clouds unfortunatelly.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#13

Post by helicon »


Great update to the report Dave. Congrats on the successful observation of 66 meteors and also on the planetary successes! Hoped to find a complete Perseids report and yours is it, so enjoy the VROD award for 8-14. For my own sake I caught 8 of them in the early AM perched on the upper deck...but that was it.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

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Post by Unitron48 »


Thanks, Michael!

Dave
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

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Post by davesellars »


Congrats on the VROD, Dave!
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Post by Makuser »


Hi Dave. After almost 5 weeks of no rain, now we are deluged everyday, so no Perseid showers to view for me. I am glad that you were able to count 66 during your session and also Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars with the 12 inch Meade LX200 scope. Thanks for another great observing report Dave and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.
Marshall
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Re: Perseids, Pleiades, and Planets!

#17

Post by Unitron48 »


Makuser wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:05 pm Hi Dave. After almost 5 weeks of no rain, now we are deluged everyday, so no Perseid showers to view for me. I am glad that you were able to count 66 during your session and also Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars with the 12 inch Meade LX200 scope. Thanks for another great observing report Dave and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.
Thanks, Marshall. Given all the bad weather up here recently we were fortunate to have an entire clear night. And I didn't find the Moon as distracting as I would have thought. It really did filter out the fainter meteors, and made for a night of lots of really bright ones. Sounds crazy I'm sure!!

Dave
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"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
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