Despite poor weather in parts of the Northern Hemisphere and a bright waxing gibbous moon, h2g2 Researchers saw a total of 220 meteors on the night of August 11/12 as part of the Perseids meteor shower project. A total of nine Researchers lucked out and had clear skies that night, spending a combined 15 hours watching the skies.

Data for August 11/12

This chart shows the names of Researchers, their total observed meteors and their total time spent observing the shower for the night of August 11/12.

Narrative for August 11/12

Galaxy Babe's Report

Galaxy Babe saw a total of 32 in four hours of observing on the night of August 11/12. The following is a listing by half hour of her observations:

• 10.00-10.30 - none.
• 10.30-11.00 - one meteor.
• 11.00-11.30 - seven meteors.
• 11.30-12.00 - ten meteors.
• 12.00-12.30 - five meteors.
• 12.30-01.00 - five meteors.
• 01.00-01.30 - four meteors.
• 01.30-02.00 - none.

Looking up at Cassiopeia, most were coming from around that direction, travelling east to south, but there were some as far as the Plough¹. I saw one
'cut' the constellation!

By far, the best one occured at 11.57 pm. Not only was it the biggest, brightest and the best, but it also made a loud 'whoosh' as it streaked over my head. It started directly between Cassiopeia and the Plough, travelled from north to
south.

That one made the night's viewing worthwhile! If I'd known Saturday night was going to be totally cloudy, I
would have stayed up later Friday, as it was, I saw none on Saturday!

Yeliab Salohcin's Report

Yeliab Salohcin saw a total of 42 meteors with 38 appearing between 3:30 and 4:30 under fairly good skies and another four between 4:30 and 5:00 in hazy skies with the Sun coming up.

He said the brightest seemed to head south and were about 5 degrees long, there were no very long trails. One did seem to hit directly as its trail was about 1 degree.

He witnessed two fireballs both just before sunrise with the first at 4:40 which was yellow-white, heading southwest with a trail length of 7-10 degrees, the second was at 4:45 and was orange-yellow, bearing east to southeast.

He further reports that it was a fantastic night and he has found that car roofs make good beds!

Shazz and TowelMaster's Report

Shazz and TowelMaster started observing at 12:15 and saw only five in the first half hour, but one was very bright with a clearly visible trail, fairly low down on the horizon, starting just below Cassiopeia and travelling towards Perseus.

In their second half hour the saw another eight, but reported there were not many bright ones, but three very close together, travelling from Cepheus towards Pegasus.

The third half hour had 'things hotting up' with 13 visible and one so bright that it vied with the jumbo from Schipol airport going the other way! A long trail on this one, visible for about 2 seconds. This was on more-or-less the same trajectory as the first bright one mentioned above, the others all viewed between 230 and 270 degrees.

As the Moon was setting, their eyes started to droop, but not before seeing three more - all bright, all lasting about 1/2 to 1 second, still on pretty much the same path.

Cenchrea's Report

Cenchrea submitted the following report from Hawaii:

• 1.00 pm GMT - Moon was still out, so only meteors of 2+ magnitude were really visible, and the fog was fairly bad (from the active volcano just south of us) 10 meteors, mostly towards the west and south, mostly in the northern half of the sky. Nothing notable about size, etc.
• 1.30 pm GMT - Moon set at 1.45 and wind picked up, so sky got clearer. 23 meteors, similar direction and magnitude, but one streaked by at approx. 1.55 pm GMT that was at least twice as bright as any of the stars out, with a tail that lasted for about 10+ seconds, bright white, maybe a tinge of red or orange.
• 2.00 pm GMT - Moon set, but fog got worse, and the early dawn light was creeping in. 13, mostly faint, mostly northward.

Ahsirtap's Report

Ahsirtap's report included a break-down by the half hour:

• 00:00 - 00:30 - Five meteors seen with three travelling east to south, and two heading east to north.
• 00:30 - 01:00 - Eleven meteors seen with seven travelling east to south, three east to north, and one east to southwest
• 01:00 - 01:30 - Three meteors observed with one heading east to south, and two travelling east to north
• 01:30 - 02:00 - Two meteors observed, with both going east to south

Ahsirtap also spotted a pair of bright fireballs and listed them with their time, appearance and direction of travel:

• 12:05 - White in colour, travelling north to south with a trail length of 16 cm
• 12:17 - White in colour, travelling east to west with a trail length of 18cm.

Reports for August 12/13

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't as cooperative on the night of August 12/13. Only one Researcher was able to spot any meteors through the clouds - a measly five Perseids in an hour during a break in the cloud cover.

Data for August 12/13

This chart shows the names of Researchers, their total observed meteors and their total time spent observing the shower for the night of August 12/13.

Weather-impaired Researchers

This chart lists the names of those unfortunate souls who suffered with cloudy conditions on one or both nights:

Thanks for the effort everyone!

Contributing Researchers

• Aurora, England
• Metal Chicken, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK
• Cenchrea, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA
• Galaxy Babe, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England
• ahsirtap, Worsley, Manchester, England
• Floh, Munich, Bavaria, Germany
• TowelMaster, Alphen aan den Rijn,The Netherlands
• Shazz, Alphen aan den Rijn,The Netherlands
• Alex Egg, Wimbledon SW London, England
• Peta, Wimbledon SW London, England
• Crescent, Aberdeen Beach, Scotland
• Phil,Shropshire, England
• Yeliab Salohcin, Cheltenham - Gloucestershire, England
• Lisa, Cheltenham - Gloucestershire, England
• Beeline, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
• Jimi X, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA