Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsAfter agonizing over the various online weather forecasts, I headed for the Outer Banks of NC Sunday night. After some shut-eye Monday afternoon, I selected a beachfront observing site just north of Salvo, NC on Hatteras Island. A sand dune conveniently blocked the moon to the west at the meteor peak just before dawn. The full moon was definitely a limiting factor, brightening the sky considerably, and making the lowest 10 degrees above the horizon pretty useless. Parts of the sky above that (and where the moon wasn't, of course) were definitely usable...you could see the Orion Nebula naked eye, but not M31. This was with pretty much clear skies all night, except for non-critical thin clouding off to the west just before dawn. The storm peak was not unlike last year's, by my impression. Which, given the bright moon this year, probably means its ZHR was actually higher than last year's. The storm peaked in two sharp spikes, around 5:15 a.m. and around 5:40 a.m. until dawn. There was a "lull" of several minutes around 5:30 a.m. in between the peaks. At its best, I was seeing a meteor every couple of seconds, for fairly brief periods. Again, they seemed to come in swarms. Overall, last year's all-night display was more impressive, though this year's peak moments were fun, too. As I left the beach, I noted brilliant Venus rising in the predawn glow to the east, while in the west a big yellow full moon set lazily into the haze. Above, Leo spat out a few more sparks, soon to be completely extinguished by the dawn. ...and staying on the beach all night wasn't too shabby either :-) Keep looking up! Jim |