July 26-30 Meteors

The past 2 nights has seen quite a bit of meteor activity. Last night, in particular, was the peak of the Southern Delta Aquariids (SDA). Though its peak rates are only a fraction of what major showers like the Perseids (PER ) and Geminids (GEM) produce, the SDA still accounted for nearly a third of all meteors detected by my camera last night. Also a larger percentage of last night’s meteors were bright with a few coming close to fireball status.

This time of year a number of other showers are very active in the Aquarius/Capricornus/Pegasus area. Though not as active as the SDA, consistent low levels of activity have been seen from the Alpha Capricornids (CAP) and the July Pegasids (JPE). Even the Piscis Austrinids (PAU) got in the act last night with 2 detections. The Southern Iota Aquariids (SIA) seem to be MIA so far.

Next month’s big shower, the Perseids (PER), are ramping up. Even 2 weeks out, they are producing 1-2 meteors per night for my camera. Their activity should continue to increase as we approach their August 12/13 peak.

Obs Date(UT)    Time   TOT SPO ANT PPS CAP JPE PAU PER SDA ERI MUL GDR
SAL 2014-07-30 05h 45m  25  11  1   0   1   1   2   1   7   1   -   0
SAL 2014-07-29 07h 30m  24  10  2   1   1   1   0   2   1   1   2   3
SAL 2014-07-28 00h 00m             Clouds/rain all night
SAL 2014-07-27 00h 00m             Clouds/rain all night
SAL 2014-07-26 05h 09m   8  5   0   0   0   0   0   1   2   0   0   0
                  also no ZED, SIA, ATR or BCA were seen over the 3 nights

SAL - SALSA3 camera in Tucson (Carl Hergenrother)
VIS - Visual observations from Tucson (Carl Hergenrother)
Time - 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
PPS - Phi Piscids
CAP - Alpha Capricornids
JPE - July Pegasids
PAU - Piscis Austrinids
PER - Perseids
ZED - July Zeta Draconids
SDA - Southern Delta Aquariids
SIA - Southern Iota Aquariids
ERI - Eta Eridanids
MUL - Mu Lyrids
GDR - July Gamma Draconids
ATR - Alpha Triangulids
BCA - Beta Cassiopeiids