Late May Meteors (May 23-31)

It has been awhile since I posted. Though the weather hasn’t always been great, lots of clouds and even a day of rain, my camera has been able to detect a few meteors per night.

The low rates of detected meteors are typical of May. Luckily every day brings us closer to the exciting months of July and August when dozens of minor and a handful of major showers are active. The high level of activity continues into the fall and winter months before tailing off again in January.

This past week saw the end of activity from the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. These meteors from Comet Halley peaked in early May but low levels of activity are possible for almost 2 months. We won’t experience another good shower until July.

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO ANT ETA
TUS  2009-05-31  06h 09m  3   2   1   
TUS  2009-05-30  05h 55m  10  6   4
TUS  2009-05-29  08h 03m  7   4   3
TUS  2009-05-28  08h 05m  7   4   2   1
TUS  2009-05-27  08h 06m  10  7   1   2
TUS  2009-05-26  08h 06m  7   5   2   0
TUS  2009-05-25  07h 48m  4   3   1   0
TUS  2009-05-24  06h 41m  4   2   2   0
TUS  2009-05-23  08h 11m  2   2   0   0

TUS – Camera in Tucson operated by Carl Hergenrother
SDG – Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford
TotTime – Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors
TOT – Total number of meteors detected
SPO – Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower)
ANT – Antihelions
ETA – Eta Aquarids