June 11/12/13/14/15 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

In the last ‘meteors’ post, I mentioned my plan to set up a 2nd meteor camera to cover more of the sky. Over the past 4 nights, both cameras have been operating. At first I wasn’t happy with the placement but after some trial and error, the cameras are in the final configuration. The map of the sky below shows where each camera is pointed on the sky. The stars are valid for ~10pm. Though the stars move throughout the night the cameras are fixed and point in the same part of the sky relative to the horizon.

SALSA_sky
Sky coverage of both SALSA meteor cameras. Star background is valid for ~10pm on 2009 June 15. Star chart created with Stellarium.

Both cameras cover the same amount of sky. The difference in the shaps and size of the Field of Views is due to distortions in the way the sky is plotted in the chart. It is obvious that even with 2 cameras, most of the sky is not monitored. Unfortunately, the trees in my yard limit where I can observe. The next step is to find a remote sight in order to determine orbits on the meteors detected in common from both sights.

The totals below include detections from both cameras. Even with the 2 cameras, numbers are still low as no major or even good minor showers are active. Cirrus remains an occasional problem. Lately, smoke from some of the forest and grass fires in southern AZ have made for a murky sky. Next month the monsoon will wipe out many of the nights. But when it is clear, the number of meteors will be much higher as we enter the most active season for meteors.

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO ANT
TUS  2009-06-15  06h 25m  14  14  0
SDG  2009-06-15  04h 00m  2   1   1
TUS  2009-06-14  06h 22m  12  12  0
TUS  2009-06-13  06h 21m  5   4   1
TUS  2009-06-12  06h 12m  15  13  2

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

Published by Carl Hergenrother

I am a professional astronomer specializing in the study of comets, asteroids and meteors. This blog will focus on my professional and amateur work in this field.

2 Comments

  1. Hey Carl, Thanks for the sky diagrams, really helps to see which parts of the celestial sphere you’re covering, Chris

  2. Hello. I was in St. Paul, MN June 11, 2009 and saw what seemed llike a meteor or comet in the sky. It was still light outside, about 8:15pm. I asked my sone what it looked like to him, and he said a comet. Was there anything like this reported by anyone else? Just curious. Thank you.

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