oldfruit Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 (edited) You must have all read the hype about the possibility of there being a new meteor shower tonight? Well myself and Paul (tbird) arranged to meet up at our dark site at Badger Farm to see if we could manage to catch sight of some of these meteors. We arrived at Badger Farm to find that it had been booked for a private party and the music was blaring so this was not going to be the venue for tonight. Paul very kindly offered that we go to his house which is about 12 miles from Badger Farm and that we set up in his garden. We Drove to Pauls house, got the kit ready, dob for general observing, DSLR with lens for wide field meteor shots and settled on our chairs for the evening. Whilst we were waiting we had a look at Mars, it was in moments of good seeing showing some very good detail tonight, probably the best I have seen for a long time. Saturn cleared the trees in the garden so we had a look, as it was quite low down the view was not knock your socks off but was pleasing none the less. Paul also showed me Comet Panstarrs in Ursa Major as I mentioned I was unable to find it on a previous attempt. Once I saw it it was quite obvious with a bright almost stellar coma with a diffuse fuzz around. Both myself and Paul were having issues with dew as the night progressed and both our secondary mirrors were suffering so we spent a long time just sitting, chatting and looking at the lovely sky. Cygnus was looking great with the Cygnus rift in the Milky Way clearly visible. The double cluster in Perseus, though low down was just visible naked eye. Also the square of Pegasus was starting to rise, giving a teaser of the great skies to come later on in the year. As for the meteor shower? We saw a few sporadics tonight, one was quite bright, but no sign of the meteor shower. Many thanks to Paul for inviting me to yours to observe. I still had a nice evening, despite the last minute change of venue and the meteor shower no show. Edited May 24, 2014 by oldfruit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Sorry there wasn't much of a show. But always nice to be outside anyway. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I saw it from Cranwell - One Meteor(in 1 hr) close to Polaris - did manage to see what I believe to be m13 (might have been m92 ) thru my Bins laying on my sun lounger as I was waiting for the "greatest show in the sky". Glad you two had a nice time looks like it could be the last for some time - lighter skies and bad weather (maybe) Is it me or is the weather forecast system in this country getting worse - e.g. Friday AM forecast (met office) for dry week end especially Sunday/Monday. Now find your Umbrellas/Wellies/Boat ! BUT its ok they have a new LOOOOOOng range system which will tell us the weather for the Winter - they can't even say what is going to be over the next two days so how can they predict (guess) this years Winter weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 not surprised as it wasn't forecast to start until 7am our time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbird Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 The best one of only two I caught last night meteor 2 by ptbird66, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stash Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 "not surprised as it wasn't forecast to start until 7am our time" - keyword forecast just like the weather forecast . I knew about the start time but I thought that there might have been "extra" activity before the main event , which as you say was "forecast" to start after 7am which of course would have been light here. So I was wrong worth a try - but it was clear for a while although as "Oldfruit" says the humidity was very high , especially after Cranwell had the most rain in the UK on Thursday - quote from BBC weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldfruit Posted May 24, 2014 Author Share Posted May 24, 2014 This is the best I could get but at least it is something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Good image Mark, there is a sky up there with stars etc, almost forgot what it looks like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldfruit Posted May 24, 2014 Author Share Posted May 24, 2014 Yes there was Ron and a good sky too. Mine and Pauls thinking was that we would rather go out and try to see if there was anything to see rather than risk missing it. Paul is lucky to have such good skies from his back garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I didn't catch any on film but saw one sporadic (mag 1) and possible shower meteor (mag 4). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 While snapping Mars and Algeiba last night, I saw a bright sporadic meteor mag -2 travel through Ursa Major. The night before my wife and I discussed whether it is still lucky to see a "shooting star" if one is looking at a predicted shower. I think not but I'm inclined to count a sporadic meteor as a lucky sign. I once saw a mag -6 sporadic while away on business in Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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