Hey Space Placers!
Update:
Listen in:
http://www.wtop.com/904/3627487/What-happened-to-that-predicted-magnificent-meteor-shower
Starting at 1:25 a.m. EDT until 4:00 a.m. EDT I and several friends watched for the Cams (as I call it) Meteor Shower under perfectly clear skies.
Our tally for the night was:
6 sporadics - meteors not associated with the Cams;
Many satellites;
LOTS of stars;
Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and the waning crescent Moon;
The Milky Way Galaxy running through Casseopia in the NE all the way down to Sagittarius in the S;
Dozens of fireflies which accounted for more false Cam sightings than Cams themselves;
And 6 potential Cams that could be traced back to the radiant within the constellation Camelopardalis.
Once again comets have proven they are notoriously hard to predict regarding their level of activity. I can see the news stories now…….ouch. But this is science and these were predictions. No way to know how a brand new meteor shower will act.
In reading the Internet traffic this morning our observations seem quite in line with those of other observers across North America - onesies and twosies. I have seen NO report of a significant number of Cams observed per hour including listening for them via radio.
I am sure we will learn more about what the Cams mean for the original models for the shower. But I think one thing is clear - Comet 209P/LINEAR, a dim and small comet apparently did not shed any great amount of debris in the 1700 and 1800's.
Due to the low activity I elected not to get my camera out. Besides, I truly enjoyed just watching the sky. It has been a long time since I have done that.
All in all my skywatching friends and I had a grand time together under the stars regardless and we have the Cams to thank for that.
Sky Guy Waking Up in VA
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