Perseids Meteor Shower
bc, Fri Aug 09 2013, 02:00PM

It's that time of year again.

Remember:

- The shower peak is the night of Aug. 11 through the morning of Aug. 12.

- Shower builds slowly and then falls off a cliff. So some will be seen on evenings and nights before the 11th. So, don't be surprised if you see some tonight!

- Generally, the shower's radiant point is the constellation Perseus. It appears first in the North East sky.

- HOWEVER, best viewing technique is, generally, lay on your back with feet facing North or North East. Then look straight up and let your peripheral vision pick stuff up.

- Goes without saying to be in a dark area, with views horizon to horizon.

- Good viewing usually starts about 9PM on the 11th and peaks about 2AM on the 12th.

- If you have something like a phone with GPS, a compass and something that knows up and down, try a program like Google Sky to know where Perseus is.

- For the Hams, meteor scatter (MS) doesn't care about light and dark, and does quite well until noon-ish on the 12th. The best bands for MS are 10m, 6m and 2m. Most folks go for 2m for the challenge. Others go higher, e.g. 220 and 432, but that's for the experts and not very productive. There's a coordination freq on 75m phone, but I don't recall the frequency. A lot of the serious Ops prearrange their schedules. Minimum equipment on 2m (barring some fancy comm modes) is 150W and 13dBi of antenna.

- For non-Hams with a scanner, you can listen for things like TV or FM stations in places at the right distances. Examples would be all the FM radio stations and TV channels 6 and below. Can easily hear places like Great Falls, MT, Vancouver and even AK. Takes a monster meteor to get a long transmission, but remember, we're talking powerful broadcast stations and the meteors that do this are hundreds of miles from you. Pester Craig. Maybe he can do something with his scanner stream.

- The little streaky meteors are objects the size of a grain of sand. That means they're moving really really fast when they hit the atmosphere. To the hams listening, the most you get out of these are a ping (assuming someone is transmitting where you're listening, etc.).

- The altitude where they burn up is roughly 50 miles (height above earth). That just happens to be about the same height as the E-layer of the ionosphere. Soooo, single hop communication on meteor scatter (MS) is, generally, on the order of 1000-ish miles. What's really cool about this kind of comm is that backscatter happens. When you hear one of those signals, it sounds echo'y. Kinda cool when you hear someone on the other side of the mountains or otherwise out of line of sight, but still closer than typical for MS.

- Also, because of the speed at which these things travel, Doppler effect is obvious on radio/TV signals, especially for the Morse code (CW) operators.

- Meteors that you see to the South are probably "randoms", and not associated with the Perseids.

Lastly, when it comes to meteor activity, we're subject to Mother Nature's whim. The East could have a great shower and the West totally suck. The last few years have been not great for our area, BUT, you NEVER know, so watch anyway.

I'm writing this in a hurry, and I'm sure I forgot something. So, if interested, keep an eye on it and I'll edit if I think of anything.

PS: Don't let the bears eat you.

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
melvin, Fri Aug 09 2013, 02:16PM

where up here would be a good place to watch this?

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
Mtngoat John⭐, Fri Aug 09 2013, 03:14PM


Probably outside.

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
melvin, Fri Aug 09 2013, 04:32PM


dork

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
solargardens, Fri Aug 09 2013, 05:46PM

Thanks,
you just reminded me to air out the sleeping bags and test the 2 meter amp!!

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
©ammy, Fri Aug 09 2013, 10:00PM


The old mine above the dump is the first place that comes to mind.

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
melvin, Fri Aug 09 2013, 10:22PM



i was thinking over in that area also.. there is also a campsite not far in on the pct from dump road.. i was also thinking of coon creek cabin or one of the yellow post sites along the way there.. or onyx peak

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
bc, Fri Aug 09 2013, 10:52PM

Anything that overlooks the desert risks a lot of skyglow, even to the East.

Don't forget that most of the meteor trails will originate toward the North and East, so better to be on the North side of the Valley.

Also don't forget that far out in the desert could be excellent viewing.

If you choose a bowl-like area, try to keep the rim sight line below 20 degrees elevation.

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
melvin, Sat Aug 10 2013, 07:55AM

that was another place i was thinking about.. take camp rock past old woman and rabbit springs towards the ohv ares but instead of take the turn off stop and look.. might get some light pollution from vv coming thru from the west but shouuld be pretty dark

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
BootsNBridles, Tue Aug 13 2013, 08:29PM

I forgot all about the meteor shower. But I heard the horses making a fuss so got up in the wee hours of Monday morning- about 2AM. Looked out the window in time to see a LONG trail going from south to north!! THEN I remembered the shower!! Guess it was just lucky timing!

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
Craig ⭐, Tue Aug 13 2013, 09:07PM

I was going to get up at around 2 or so and go check it out, but work and sleep took priority. I did catch one however at around 9:30pm before bed. That was cool enough for me thinking I wouldn't see any

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
bc, Tue Aug 08 2017, 09:26PM

Resurrecting this thread, once again ... in case anyone forgot (cough).

Bottom line(s):
1. Best time to watch is the night of August 11th through the morning of the 12th. It's always been this way, and my source for this is pretty good (radio guys, of which I am one). The shower actually builds slowly and ends abruptly. So, you may see meteors several days leading up to the 11th-12th. I've watched a lot on nights from the 12th on, and have only seen "randoms".
2. Where to look: From a dark place with a minimum of sky glow and a clear 360 deg horizon; lay on your back with feet facing North-ish (NE if you start early); look straight up and let peripheral vision do its thing. If you just gotta pick one thing to focus on, make it the bowl of the Big Dipper ... if you must. The better you see the Milky Way, the better the show. Try not to be distracted by airplanes and satellites. If you watch long and intently enough, you will see both.
3 When exactly: Give up horizon to avoid sky glow; for early watchers, it starts in the East and moves West. Start looking around 9PM, then, well, hang in there! The "peak" is very close to dawn on the 12th, perhaps starting around 2AM. HOWEVER, see the 'radio and other' comment below.
4. Someone said this year's show would be the best in a long time, with a rate of perhaps 100 per hour. That's more than one per minute, so it is pretty good. Note, however, that most of the time they come in clusters. So if you see one, sharpen your senses, there may be more. It helps to watch in a small group.

Radio and Other Stuff:

Radio guys, particularly Hams, are not limited by light conditions. They bounce signals off of the meteor trails. This happens about 50 miles up, the same as the E-layer of the ionosphere. The once bounce range is, very roughly, 1000 miles. The variation is quite large. The best conditions for this are around 50 MHz (the Ham's 6 meter band). However, most Hams prefer the challenge of the 2 meter band, and hang out around 144.200 MHz as a general calling frequency. That's enough about that. Technology has changed a lot, so from hand pounded out code (CW) we now have burst data modes.

Some of the best contacts in terms of duration of the contact have been almost at noon on the 12th.

FYI, there are remote data collection systems that use meteor scatter to ship data from remote sites. Needless to say, it's not a lot of data, and there's no time pressure on when it arrives.

The best visual night I've ever had was many years ago. I'd dozed off up stairs, and the curtains were closed. It was about 2AM, and suddenly I woke up because the room was filled with flashes coming from the windows. That lasted about an hour, so we must have passed through a dense part of the cloud.

Be sure to watch for what I call "Dark Meteors". You'll know 'em when you see 'em. If you do, think about what you're seeing. Remember, the Milky Way is like a backlight.

It's on a weekend this year, so get out there! I for one don't have a lot of years of observing left. Radio is indeed fun, but ever since being kept awake all night at a Boy Scout campout in Napa, I'm hooked on watching Mother Nature at visible wavelengths!

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
Craig ⭐, Wed Aug 09 2017, 09:16PM

Awesome!! Thank you for the heads up BC! I think I will actually be able to get out there late/early and take a look!

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
sned (KT7P), Fri Aug 11 2017, 12:43PM

Scanners and Hams can tune in on 146.940 and listen for the meteor noises being broadcast through the repeater that is a bit of a ways away. Any excuse to bounce RF off of something that moves!!!

Re: Perseids Meteor Shower
HazMatMind, Fri Aug 11 2017, 02:11PM

Great info, thanks! Have a Zero Gravity chair on my upper deck for viewing. Also have a grocery wagon, watering can and piece of lattice blocking steps up to deck. Now, if I can only erase the vision of the bears recently appearing on my trail cam during prime viewing time.