July 8/9/10/11 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

Partly cloudy and humid nights continue to be the rule in Tucson. Rates remain low though last night was a bit of a bump in rates. The Moon is still a problem in the morning sky but its interference in the detectable rate of meteors should rapidly lessen over the next few days.

From Bob’s notes: “Weather conditions in the San Diego area have been variable the past few nights. Either the coastal clouds roll in a few hours after sunset or it has remained clear all night long. Regardless, all observations have been affected by the bright moon, resulting in low rates.”

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO ANT CAP
TUS  2009-07-11  04h 28m  12  11  1   0
SDG  2009-07-11  04h 54m  7   5   2   0
TUS  2009-07-10  01h 00m  4   4   0   0
SDG  2009-07-10  07h 53m  4   4   0   0
TUS  2009-07-09  05h 56m  7   6   1   0
SDG  2009-07-09  01h 23m  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
CAP – Alpha Capricornids

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.

4 Comments

  1. July 12th, 4:50 AM large bright light streaked across the horizon, larger than the space shuttle, no tail, no fire, just a bright ball shaped light. Seen to the west of Albany, NY. Could this have been a meteor, it was visible without any telescope.

    1. Hi Marianne,

      Your description matches that of a bright meteor, sometimes referred to as a fireball.

      It sounds like a bright one. Though most fireballs have short tails, I have seen a number that appear as small colored balls of fire. Personally I think they are some of the coolest looking meteors.

      I’ll keep a lookout for other reports from the NY area.

      Thanks for writing,
      – Carl

  2. I saw a bright ‘shooting star’ fall around 10 pm July 13 to the ME of Newark, NJ. I actually blinked my eyes double-take style and it was still going. At arm’s length, it was about 1.5″ –not sure how else to describe it.

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