July 26/27/28 Meteors – Peak of the SDA, CAP and PAU showers

The monsoon finally took a break here in southern Arizona. For the first time in over a month, the night sky has been clear of all clouds and haze. The timing couldn’t have been better since this week marks the peak activity of a number of minor showers. The Alpha Capricornids and Piscids Australids are both capable of producing 1-5 meteors per hour from a dark site. The Southern Delta Aquariids are even better at 10-20 meteors per hours from a dark site.

The best meteor of the past 2 nights was this early evening Alpha Capricornid. The video below is playing at ~1/2 speed. Still this was a rather slow meteor which is common for Alpha Caps.

The high number of detected meteors confirms that activity was up. Even with lots of active showers, about half f the activity was from Sporadic meteors that are not members of any known shower. Of the active showers, the Southern Delta Aquariids lead the pack, as expected. The Alpha Capricornids come in a close second with the Perseids (still weeks from their peak) producing a healthy number as well.

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO ANT CAP SDA PAU PER
TUS  2009-07-28  08h 23m  34  20  1   3   8   0   1
TUS  2009-07-27  08h 21m  47  22  5   5   9   1   5

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
SDA – Southern Delta Aquariids
PAU – Piscids Australids
PER – Perseids