- Nearly LIVE
 |
| "click on image to enlarge"Camelopardalid Meteor in Milky Way May 24, 0415 local (Eastern Daylight Time), or 0815 UTC Photography used by Permission c2014 Mark "Indy" Kochte |
 |
| :click on image to enlarge" Camelopardalids Observation We were in Lanesville, Indiana for the shower, my wife and I saw only a handful, but I managed to get this photo. Photograph used by Permission c 2014 Chris Denny |
Our observing began at 11pm (MST) and ended at 2:30 am MST. We are on a Ranch, far away from town with excellent view of the North/North Eastern sky.
This was by far an exciting night. Shortly after we began viewing, we saw many "bright flashes" and small streaking meteors, which lasted for the first hour. At Midnight, everything slowed down and we didn't see any for the next 45 minutes. At 12:45am things picked up, just as we were about to give up and come inside. Several streaking across in opposite directions and two very bright, very long, multi-colored CAMS.
Things died down again around 1:45 am and we gave it another 45 minutes and called it a night. There were several odd "satellite's (?)", drifting "fog"? and we did see the ISS.
All in all it was by far, a wonderful experience and our family had a wonderful time. No moon for us, so we had a clear, very dark sky to observe. - KC"
UWO, Ontario, Canada
There is now definite CAM activity in the radar.
"The plot in question maps all the radiants CMOR detected onto the sky during
the previous day. The update period is determined by the need to collect
data for a full day to minimize biases in any one particular part of the
sky. With CMOR's broad gain pattern this means we need a full day for the
radiants to fully sweep through the beam and be (roughly) equally
detectable. In principle, this means the updates occur just as a complete
degree of solar longitude is finished. In practice, there is some data
communication and additional processing time required even when all data is
"available" - this can produce another hour or two delay after the end of an
integer solar longitude bin before the maps are updated.
The bright radiant concentration which appeared a few hours ago when today's
update was complete shows moderately strong activity from the
Camelopardalids but does not identify them automatically as the shower is
not in the internal list used by CMOR to perform stream associations.
http://meteor.uwo.ca/research/radar/cmor_intro.html
--DR. Peter Brown, UWO"
Greece
Right now, CMOR is showing increased activity at the spot... no classification, but a nice intense red dot of activity. Best regards, Alex Daskalakis"
> http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
> At the predicted naximum time practically nothing was seen around
> there !
I do not know how this plot is created, but I followed it yesterday and
earlier today and it seemed that the same data was plotted, only shifted
to reflect current position of the objects in the sky.
I therefore think the fresh data has only now been added. The
appearance of the radiant will probably stay the same for one day now,
according to my experience from yesterday. Note also the activity from the first observations submitted to IMO is available at: http://www.imo.net/live/cameleopardalids2014/ Clear skies!, Javor"
Grigoris"
> At the predicted naximum time practically nothing was seen around
> there !
I do not know how this plot is created, but I followed it yesterday and
earlier today and it seemed that the same data was plotted, only shifted
to reflect current position of the objects in the sky.
I therefore think the fresh data has only now been added. The
appearance of the radiant will probably stay the same for one day now,
according to my experience from yesterday. Note also the activity from the first observations submitted to IMO is available at: http://www.imo.net/live/cameleopardalids2014/ Clear skies!, Javor"
B.C. Meteors Network, Canada
Well, I didn't set up my spectrographs as it was mostly cloudy over Courtenay, B.C. Went to sleep but woke up at about 1.30 a.m. and saw some stars, but only for a short time before the clouds were back, no meteors. Checked my WSentinel all-sky and it recorded nothing when there were short breaks in the cloud cover. The Asgard all-sky has not down loaded its results yet but I doubt it recorded anything either. Ed Majden"
Bonn, Germany
"And what about http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~hro/Flash/2014/CAM/ from radio
echos recorded at numerous stations, as far as I understand it? During
recent regular showers their "ZHR" tracked IMO's visual one quite well
(after the latter had stabilized; right now the CAM plot is still very
noisy).- Daniel F."
Southern Maryland, USA
"I saw three 'CAMs' this morning during a 3.15 hour watch this morning and a fourth as I was arranging my equipment before the watch. The meteors were faint: +3 (3) and +4, and very slow as predicted. They visibly disintegrated as they occurred, leaving a 'grainy' trail. There were no long enduring trains seen among the four.
Date and time: 24 May 2014; 5:09-8:30 UT (1:09-4:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time)
Location: Bel Alton, Maryland, USA: approx. 77 W longitude and 38.5 N latitude. Elevation about 10 meters The sky was cloudless and very transparent but not very dark. The Milky Way was prominent and spanned the sky from about Cassiopeia to the southern horizon. The northern horizon was light polluted from Washington, D.C. and suburbs' lights.
Period 1: 509-615 UT, Teff=1.100 hour; F=1.00; Lm= 5.05 magnitude, center of field= Bootes to Northern Crown -CAMs: none -SPOs: +2 magnitude Total= 1
Period 2: 6:24-7:04 UT, Teff=0.667 hour, F=1.00, Lm=4.90, center of field=central Bootes
CAMs: +4- SPOs: +2, +3, +4 Total= 4
Period 3: 7:07-8:30 UT, Teff=1.383 hour, F=1.00, Lm=4.90, center of field= "Keystone" of Hercules- CAMs: +3 (2)
SPOs: -6 at 8:11 UT seen between Scorpius and Libra low in the southwest.- Total= 3
Even though the observed CAMs were few, the greatest number were seen close to the 7-8 hr.UT "maximum" predicted. The three were seen in the interval between 6:43 and 8:20 UT.
A report will be sent to the American Meteor Society and the International Meteor Organization- Richard Taibi "
echos recorded at numerous stations, as far as I understand it? During
recent regular showers their "ZHR" tracked IMO's visual one quite well
(after the latter had stabilized; right now the CAM plot is still very
noisy).- Daniel F."
Southern Maryland, USA
"I saw three 'CAMs' this morning during a 3.15 hour watch this morning and a fourth as I was arranging my equipment before the watch. The meteors were faint: +3 (3) and +4, and very slow as predicted. They visibly disintegrated as they occurred, leaving a 'grainy' trail. There were no long enduring trains seen among the four.
Date and time: 24 May 2014; 5:09-8:30 UT (1:09-4:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time)
Location: Bel Alton, Maryland, USA: approx. 77 W longitude and 38.5 N latitude. Elevation about 10 meters The sky was cloudless and very transparent but not very dark. The Milky Way was prominent and spanned the sky from about Cassiopeia to the southern horizon. The northern horizon was light polluted from Washington, D.C. and suburbs' lights.
Period 1: 509-615 UT, Teff=1.100 hour; F=1.00; Lm= 5.05 magnitude, center of field= Bootes to Northern Crown -CAMs: none -SPOs: +2 magnitude Total= 1
Period 2: 6:24-7:04 UT, Teff=0.667 hour, F=1.00, Lm=4.90, center of field=central Bootes
CAMs: +4- SPOs: +2, +3, +4 Total= 4
Period 3: 7:07-8:30 UT, Teff=1.383 hour, F=1.00, Lm=4.90, center of field= "Keystone" of Hercules- CAMs: +3 (2)
SPOs: -6 at 8:11 UT seen between Scorpius and Libra low in the southwest.- Total= 3
Even though the observed CAMs were few, the greatest number were seen close to the 7-8 hr.UT "maximum" predicted. The three were seen in the interval between 6:43 and 8:20 UT.
A report will be sent to the American Meteor Society and the International Meteor Organization- Richard Taibi "
Greece
Hi there! a small update although perhaps not surprising. I observed also during morning (24th May) about 01:15-02:15 ut and saw 2 possible CAMS.Grigoris"
Finland
"See, http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/ At the predicted naximum time practically nothing was seen around there ! Esko L."
Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA
"In Michigan's Upper Peninsula: A BEAUTFUL, clear nite for star gazing. Spent 1.75 hrs between 2 am EST and 4 am EST. Saw 17 meteors, same as the number of satellites I saw during the same time period. - Kathy"
Washington State, USA, near Walla Walla.
"Lovely evening, after seeing a beautiful rainbow near sunset. Rain off and on all day, and then partly cloudy. I watched the whole two hours (might have dozed from time to time) mostly cloudy, and, as we used to say in Kentucky - there was "nary a one" that I could see. I was glad to be out, though, so peaceful, and a time to think about the Creator and His Word. - Mary Lou"
South Carolina, USA
I was surprised to arrive at my site and find four other members of my astronomy club. After a bit of socializing and meteor observing discussions, I was able to begin
observing at 0130 local time (0530 UT). Almost immediately I recorded my first CAM, a +3 magnitude traveling toward the zenith directly out from the radiant. During this first hour
of observing, the brightest meteor I recorded was a -2.0 magnitude CAM (the brightest one I saw all morning). Earlier I reported I thought I had seen maybe 15 CAMs, but that was optimistic, as after reviewing my notes, it was only 8. But I was hopeful, as the 0300 hour was approaching! Unfortunately, activity declined quickly to only a handful per hour. The
remaining two hours netted 4 CAMs each hour, and only one other negative magnitude meteor (a -2.0 sporadic). It was a nice morning though, and I was able to get some of my club
members out, so no complaints. Below is my report. Mark Davis"
Laval, Quebec
"just got up, again. was watching from 2 to 4. watching like a hawk. a broken-heart hawk, with a stiff neck this morning. surprise, surprise, ONE shooting light of something around 3:15. duh. but still a thrill to be on the watch :) have a nice day ! - Helo Lo"
Slovania
"I observed with Jure Atanackov from a place near Ljubljana.
Saharan dust and some clouds interfered but we managed to observe for
1.5 hours. Only one Camelopardalid was seen during this time.
Date: 2014 May 23/24 Start: 00:01 UT End: 01:31 UT
Place: Vrh nad Zelimljami Location: 45o 54' 21'' N, 14o 35' 57'' E, 530 m
Obserer: Javor Kac (KACJA) Period (UT) Teff F Lm ETA ANT CAM Spor
00:01-00:46 0.75 1.23 6.06 1 0 0 6 -- 00:46-01:31 0.75 1.07 6.04 1 0 1 8
Magnitude distributions: ETA: +2(1) +3(1) CAM: +2(1) Spor: 0(1) +1(3) +2(2) +3(4) +4(4)
Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA
"In Michigan's Upper Peninsula: A BEAUTFUL, clear nite for star gazing. Spent 1.75 hrs between 2 am EST and 4 am EST. Saw 17 meteors, same as the number of satellites I saw during the same time period. - Kathy"
Gulf of Mexico
"Observed the clear skies over the Gulf of Mexico from 2:30 to 3:00 AM and saw nothing but stars. Disappointing, but the night sky in paradise is always a thing of beauty.-Frank"
Iowa, USA
During the evening I thought the clouds would not go away, but gradually they began eroding from East to West , so I went out. Some haze/cirrus during all hours, but gradually worse after first hour, then crescent Moon up during last hour. The brightest CAM occurred entirely in cirrus, maybe as bright as - 2, very slow and yellow. Several of the brighter CAM's were yellow. While not a complete dud, certainly very disappointing. >From 06:03 - 06:10 UT a single ray of aurora extended into the Bowl of the Big Dipper, gradually moving to just East of the Bowl and expanding and shrinking in width repeatedly - very pale greenish, perhaps a bit reddish at top. At 06:09 only half as tall as at 06:03 and by 06:11 completely gone. Some very faint hint of aurora for next half hour along the NW horizon. -- 24 May 2014 05:00-06:00 UT 61 deg F; dew pt 46 deg F; wind SE 3 mph; "mostly clear"; average LM 5.5; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: two: +3(2) Sporadics: three: +2; +4(2) Total meteors: five
24 May 2014 06:00-07:00 UT 59 deg F; dew pt 48 deg F; wind calm; a bit of haze/cirrus; average LM 5.3; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: two: +1; +3
Sporadics: two: +3(2) Total meteors: four 24 May 2014 07:00-08:00 UT 56 deg F; dew pt 49 deg F; wind E 5 mph; some haze/cirrus; average LM 5.2; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: five: 0; +1(2); +2(2 Sporadics: five: -1; +1; +3(3) Total meteors: ten
24 May 2014 08:00-09:00 UT 55 deg F; dew pt 45 deg F; wind calm; haze/cirrus; crescent Moon up; average LM 5.0; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. ANT: one: -1 CAM: four: -2; +1; +3(2) Sporadics: four: +1; +2; +3(2) Total meteors: nine Paul Martsching "
Iowa, USA
During the evening I thought the clouds would not go away, but gradually they began eroding from East to West , so I went out. Some haze/cirrus during all hours, but gradually worse after first hour, then crescent Moon up during last hour. The brightest CAM occurred entirely in cirrus, maybe as bright as - 2, very slow and yellow. Several of the brighter CAM's were yellow. While not a complete dud, certainly very disappointing. >From 06:03 - 06:10 UT a single ray of aurora extended into the Bowl of the Big Dipper, gradually moving to just East of the Bowl and expanding and shrinking in width repeatedly - very pale greenish, perhaps a bit reddish at top. At 06:09 only half as tall as at 06:03 and by 06:11 completely gone. Some very faint hint of aurora for next half hour along the NW horizon. -- 24 May 2014 05:00-06:00 UT 61 deg F; dew pt 46 deg F; wind SE 3 mph; "mostly clear"; average LM 5.5; facing North 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: two: +3(2) Sporadics: three: +2; +4(2) Total meteors: five
24 May 2014 06:00-07:00 UT 59 deg F; dew pt 48 deg F; wind calm; a bit of haze/cirrus; average LM 5.3; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: two: +1; +3
Sporadics: two: +3(2) Total meteors: four 24 May 2014 07:00-08:00 UT 56 deg F; dew pt 49 deg F; wind E 5 mph; some haze/cirrus; average LM 5.2; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. CAM: five: 0; +1(2); +2(2 Sporadics: five: -1; +1; +3(3) Total meteors: ten
24 May 2014 08:00-09:00 UT 55 deg F; dew pt 45 deg F; wind calm; haze/cirrus; crescent Moon up; average LM 5.0; facing N 50 deg; teff 1.0 hr. ANT: one: -1 CAM: four: -2; +1; +3(2) Sporadics: four: +1; +2; +3(2) Total meteors: nine Paul Martsching "
Canada
Here is the Report for Kim Hay and Kevin Kell, though both observing from the same location, we were looking in different areas of the sky. We had storms and rain earlier in the day, which cleared, but gave us sky and ground fog. Temperatures 10-12C fluctuated. Wind from the SE slight Location 44.22.39N 76.45.47W 155 M Elevation
Start Time 6:07 UT Finish time 7:12 UT 1.05 h of teff Meteor estimates, will be off due to fog. Moon did not rise until 33:11:18 UT Kevin observing Cassiopia 6 stars which faded with the fog looking NE Camleopardalis- 2 ( 1 @ 6:17 UT) (2nd @ 7:10 UT by Polaris train 15 degrees) faint Sporadics- 3 Kim observing Muscida the head of the UMa. (mag 3.34)
Limiting magnitude (using 1999 charts from NAMN) Area 3 6:13 UT 10 stars 5.49
6:.30 UT 6 stars- 4.56 6:53 UT 5 stars- 4.48 7:07 UT 7 stars- 4.83 Camelopardalis-1 @ 6:17 UT mag -1 fast 60 degrees from FOV I did see bright spots but unable to determine if meteors, behind trees and observatory. We had a very loud Eastern Whip-poor-will accompany us with background music, and a cat calling from the window. Kim & Kevin"
Here is the Report for Kim Hay and Kevin Kell, though both observing from the same location, we were looking in different areas of the sky. We had storms and rain earlier in the day, which cleared, but gave us sky and ground fog. Temperatures 10-12C fluctuated. Wind from the SE slight Location 44.22.39N 76.45.47W 155 M Elevation
Start Time 6:07 UT Finish time 7:12 UT 1.05 h of teff Meteor estimates, will be off due to fog. Moon did not rise until 33:11:18 UT Kevin observing Cassiopia 6 stars which faded with the fog looking NE Camleopardalis- 2 ( 1 @ 6:17 UT) (2nd @ 7:10 UT by Polaris train 15 degrees) faint Sporadics- 3 Kim observing Muscida the head of the UMa. (mag 3.34)
Limiting magnitude (using 1999 charts from NAMN) Area 3 6:13 UT 10 stars 5.49
6:.30 UT 6 stars- 4.56 6:53 UT 5 stars- 4.48 7:07 UT 7 stars- 4.83 Camelopardalis-1 @ 6:17 UT mag -1 fast 60 degrees from FOV I did see bright spots but unable to determine if meteors, behind trees and observatory. We had a very loud Eastern Whip-poor-will accompany us with background music, and a cat calling from the window. Kim & Kevin"
"Lovely evening, after seeing a beautiful rainbow near sunset. Rain off and on all day, and then partly cloudy. I watched the whole two hours (might have dozed from time to time) mostly cloudy, and, as we used to say in Kentucky - there was "nary a one" that I could see. I was glad to be out, though, so peaceful, and a time to think about the Creator and His Word. - Mary Lou"
I was surprised to arrive at my site and find four other members of my astronomy club. After a bit of socializing and meteor observing discussions, I was able to begin
observing at 0130 local time (0530 UT). Almost immediately I recorded my first CAM, a +3 magnitude traveling toward the zenith directly out from the radiant. During this first hour
of observing, the brightest meteor I recorded was a -2.0 magnitude CAM (the brightest one I saw all morning). Earlier I reported I thought I had seen maybe 15 CAMs, but that was optimistic, as after reviewing my notes, it was only 8. But I was hopeful, as the 0300 hour was approaching! Unfortunately, activity declined quickly to only a handful per hour. The
remaining two hours netted 4 CAMs each hour, and only one other negative magnitude meteor (a -2.0 sporadic). It was a nice morning though, and I was able to get some of my club
members out, so no complaints. Below is my report. Mark Davis"
Blackwoods, Colorado, USA
"Up at 1:00 am to view the spectacular hoax of a comet, probably perpetrated by crooked chiropracters and message therapists needing new customers. Risked being mauled by roaming black bears to see one satellite, and two aircraft pass overhead. Maybe the news anchors, sleeping away in their comfy beds, meant, “the aircraft formerly known as Comets”.
Ted Walker"
Ted Walker"
"just got up, again. was watching from 2 to 4. watching like a hawk. a broken-heart hawk, with a stiff neck this morning. surprise, surprise, ONE shooting light of something around 3:15. duh. but still a thrill to be on the watch :) have a nice day ! - Helo Lo"
Slovania
"I observed with Jure Atanackov from a place near Ljubljana.
Saharan dust and some clouds interfered but we managed to observe for
1.5 hours. Only one Camelopardalid was seen during this time.
Date: 2014 May 23/24 Start: 00:01 UT End: 01:31 UT
Place: Vrh nad Zelimljami Location: 45o 54' 21'' N, 14o 35' 57'' E, 530 m
Obserer: Javor Kac (KACJA) Period (UT) Teff F Lm ETA ANT CAM Spor
00:01-00:46 0.75 1.23 6.06 1 0 0 6 -- 00:46-01:31 0.75 1.07 6.04 1 0 1 8
Magnitude distributions: ETA: +2(1) +3(1) CAM: +2(1) Spor: 0(1) +1(3) +2(2) +3(4) +4(4)
Clear skies!-Javor"
Alberta, Canada-
"Disappointment here in Alberta as well. A dozen observers combined to see zero (0) unambiguous Camelopardalids. A few sporadics, a couple of maybes, & a whole lot of nothing. Skies were compromised at first but opened wide from 07-08:00 UT. My own obs consisted of one anthelion meteor we also listened on the car radio's FM band but there was nothing but white noise Swing & a miss. Bruce"
Dunmore, WV, USA
"Just a short note here to say that the "CAMs" were pretty much a bust as seen from here in Dunmore, West Virginia. Indeed, these meteors certainly could have done more. Renate and I watched from the comfort of two lounge chairs under a beautiful sky that conservatively was no worse than magnitude 6, with a spectacular Milky Way stretching from Cassiopeia to Scorpius. We were out from 1:45 to 3:30 a.m. EDT and saw 8 possible Camelopardalids. The best one by far was a slow moving dazzler of at least -5 magnitude at 3:20 a.m., which appeared below Arcturus. That was pretty much the highlight. . . we waited for > a possible bevy of meteors to appear but what few we did see were few and far between.joe rao "
swamp... and other than every single star, I saw Zip... But I did chase an
interloping armadillo around my back yard with a headlamp on.. See Facebook
for details... Lol, Greg"
Hawaii, USA
"Has anyone seen any of this elusive meteor shower? Out in HI, after an intermittent hour of observing, we saw 3 planes and a half dozen meteors, about what one might expect from any other night. Maybe someone else is having more luck; I think we may try setting the alarm clock for 2 a.m. and see if it picks up any.Best! Tracy L."
Hawaii, USA
We did get up around 2:30 and went outside for about 10 minutes, saw nothing but several hungry mosquitoes, and gave it up as a bad job. Our first observing bout lasted from approximately 9:30 to 10:30 HST, only slightly more satisfactory. This is an instance of negative results still being a result. Best! -Tracy L."
New Iberia, LA, USA
I was out from 1 to 2 AM CDT (6 to 7 UT) but saw no CAMs from south
Louisiana. The sky was poor, however, with haze and some drifting clouds
and a limiting magnitude of between 4 and 5 at different times. My total
catch was a nice sporadic. I hope others are having some luck! -Dave Hostetter"
"Disappointment here in Alberta as well. A dozen observers combined to see zero (0) unambiguous Camelopardalids. A few sporadics, a couple of maybes, & a whole lot of nothing. Skies were compromised at first but opened wide from 07-08:00 UT. My own obs consisted of one anthelion meteor we also listened on the car radio's FM band but there was nothing but white noise Swing & a miss. Bruce"
Dunmore, WV, USA
"Just a short note here to say that the "CAMs" were pretty much a bust as seen from here in Dunmore, West Virginia. Indeed, these meteors certainly could have done more. Renate and I watched from the comfort of two lounge chairs under a beautiful sky that conservatively was no worse than magnitude 6, with a spectacular Milky Way stretching from Cassiopeia to Scorpius. We were out from 1:45 to 3:30 a.m. EDT and saw 8 possible Camelopardalids. The best one by far was a slow moving dazzler of at least -5 magnitude at 3:20 a.m., which appeared below Arcturus. That was pretty much the highlight. . . we waited for > a possible bevy of meteors to appear but what few we did see were few and far between.joe rao "
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
"Weather reports for our area 20 miles north of Kingston, Ontario
didn't look promising, but I set my alarm for 2:00 a.m. to check. Hit
the snooze button, then dragged my groggy self out of bed. Clear sky!
Bundled up with warm clothes and big klunkety boots that would keep
my feet warm and dry in the rain soaked grass, collected camera and
tripod and headed out to where I had a view of Camelodorkus just over
the trees. Set up and waited. Held my breath with anticipation. And
waited. Fiddled with the camera. Whistled to the whipporwill. And
waited. Meteor "shower" my ***! Saw one fast little meteor whizz
across Ursa Major, watched the ISS and a couple of satellites come
over, but meteor "shower"? Nada. Once again my hopes for lovely
sparklies was dashed like fine crystal over a rock cliff.
This sleep-depriving bone chilling stiff neck inducing event of major
disappointment brought to you by the same sadistic fiends who promised
me that Comet Eyesore would be the comet of the century. Pfft!
Phooey! Rats! RoseMarie"
Mid-Florida Swamp, USA
"I attempted to see in the best crystal clear skies anywhere, mid-Florida "Weather reports for our area 20 miles north of Kingston, Ontario
didn't look promising, but I set my alarm for 2:00 a.m. to check. Hit
the snooze button, then dragged my groggy self out of bed. Clear sky!
Bundled up with warm clothes and big klunkety boots that would keep
my feet warm and dry in the rain soaked grass, collected camera and
tripod and headed out to where I had a view of Camelodorkus just over
the trees. Set up and waited. Held my breath with anticipation. And
waited. Fiddled with the camera. Whistled to the whipporwill. And
waited. Meteor "shower" my ***! Saw one fast little meteor whizz
across Ursa Major, watched the ISS and a couple of satellites come
over, but meteor "shower"? Nada. Once again my hopes for lovely
sparklies was dashed like fine crystal over a rock cliff.
This sleep-depriving bone chilling stiff neck inducing event of major
disappointment brought to you by the same sadistic fiends who promised
me that Comet Eyesore would be the comet of the century. Pfft!
Phooey! Rats! RoseMarie"
Mid-Florida Swamp, USA
swamp... and other than every single star, I saw Zip... But I did chase an
interloping armadillo around my back yard with a headlamp on.. See Facebook
for details... Lol, Greg"
"Has anyone seen any of this elusive meteor shower? Out in HI, after an intermittent hour of observing, we saw 3 planes and a half dozen meteors, about what one might expect from any other night. Maybe someone else is having more luck; I think we may try setting the alarm clock for 2 a.m. and see if it picks up any.Best! Tracy L."
Hawaii, USA
We did get up around 2:30 and went outside for about 10 minutes, saw nothing but several hungry mosquitoes, and gave it up as a bad job. Our first observing bout lasted from approximately 9:30 to 10:30 HST, only slightly more satisfactory. This is an instance of negative results still being a result. Best! -Tracy L."
Maussane-les-Alpilles, France
"Dear all, Observation from 23h50 UT until dawn from Maussane-les-Alpilles, France, between Avignon and Arles (43.72 N - 4.86 E alt 133). Lim = 5.70, clear sky, no wind, right after a big storm. Looking mostly to W.Just a single CAM seen (mag 2, very slow, with a double trail, at 0H54 UT) + 9 SPO.Some interruptions when playing with a DSLR on a refractor for comet imaging (the meteor shower was soooo dramatic that it was needed to do something for staying "alive" ;-). I hope you had better luck in N America. Christophe"
New Mexico, USA
New Mexico, USA
"May 24, 2014 0140 UTC -While clouded out here in New Mexico I have been reading the chat comments from hundreds of hopeful observers all over North America.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/may-camelopardalids.html#.U4BIkC-bOso
Ouch. Despite clouds, no extraordinary radio meteor out burst here so far. Still, the potential event is pretty interesting in its various dimensions. Thomas Ashcraft"
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/may-camelopardalids.html#.U4BIkC-bOso
Ouch. Despite clouds, no extraordinary radio meteor out burst here so far. Still, the potential event is pretty interesting in its various dimensions. Thomas Ashcraft"
Greece
"By now i assume that the N. American contigent is in "Aaaah"s and "Ooooohs" from CAMs. Did a 1.5 hour stint at 00:00utc till 01:30utc LM 4 last night and nothing seen. Expecting that the rest of you have better news.. :) 2-3am, 0 looking centered on the summer triangle, 0 CAMS, 2 others (both headed north roughly - Lyrids or Aquarids? 3-3:30am (cam in a few minutes ago), 1, mag 3? traveling south possibly in the constellation of Scutum (Sagittarius was in some trees.) Judging from some stars in the neck of Cygnus and checking in Stellarium limiting magnitude was 5 (I could see 4.9 stars with averted vision but not 5.5) I’m in central NC. Milky Way was beautiful. Nice clear night. = - - - - - - - = Steven Kolins"
I was out from 1 to 2 AM CDT (6 to 7 UT) but saw no CAMs from south
Louisiana. The sky was poor, however, with haze and some drifting clouds
and a limiting magnitude of between 4 and 5 at different times. My total
catch was a nice sporadic. I hope others are having some luck! -Dave Hostetter"
Germany
"I had a quick look of tonights' recordings from two of my cameras. As expected, there was only low Camelopardalid activity:- AVIS2 : 4 CAMs out of 49 meteors, observation end 01:50 UT- MINCAM1: 1 CAMs out of 15 meteors, observation end at 02:10 UT Best,
Sirko Molau"
I was out from 1:45 - 3:50 AM local time and saw only the expected late-spring smattering of sporadics. There were two possible CAMs the entire night, one a splendid slow-moving +1 long-pathed meteor that didn't align all that terribly well, and another very brief and faint meteor near the given radiant, both just after 3:00 local time. Skies were very clear with about a +6 or better LM. Beyond these two maybes, I saw perhaps 8 - 10 SPOs. -Kim Youmans"
South Carolina, USA
I wanted to post a quick note of my results from near the coast of South
Carolina. Under clear skies, I observed from 0130-0430 local time
(0530-0830 UT) and did not see exceptional activity. The first hour was
my best with perhaps 15 CAMs. The second and third hour they dropped off
to being only a couple per hour. Based on what I witnessed, it seemed
the strongest activity occurred shortly after midnight local time. The
low radiant altitude at my location (32 degrees north) may have
contributed to this.
Full report to IMO next, and I will post my full data to the list as well.-Mark Davis"
The Camelopardalids (CAM) were a disappointment - just a weak background activity. There was no sharp peak nor any hint of heightened activity near the predicted time of maximum. Instead, I saw a few CAM's each hour of the night. Overall, maybe 20-something CAM's... Still some beautiful meteors! Brightest CAM was a gorgeous mag -3 meteor that crawled ever so slowly, with a two sec train (possibly photographed by Raymond Dubois who was observing with me). The CAM's seen at the beginning of night were mostly bright, while the ones seen near the end of the night were predominantly dim. The brighter ones seemed to fragment (nebulous appearance) towards the end of their path. I observed until bright twilight in case of a late maximum, but nothing more happened.
Perhaps this comet has been almost completely dormant in the past centuries after all.
I'll listen to the tape and transcribe my data later this weekend. Clear skies!-Pierre Martin"
Greece
"Hello good morning all
By now i assume that the N. American contigent is in "Aaaah"s and "Ooooohs" from CAMs.
Did a 1.5 hour stint at 00:00utc till 01:30utc LM 4 last night and nothing seen.
Expecting that the rest of you have better news.. :) Best regards,- Alex SV1NZX"
Greece
Southern California, USA
"I had to drive over 100 miles eastward into Imperial County to escape the low clouds and fog over San Diego. My son and I pulled over in a clearing off highway 98 to see what we could. There were plenty of lights but at least the sky was clear. LM estimate was probably near +6.0. The temperature was in the low 70's F but the wind was blowing hard out of the west so it felt chilly. Meteors were scarce with only 2 CAM's and perhaps a dozen others being seen from 5:15 to 8:30 UT. The 2 CAMS were -1 and -3. Both were distinctly orange and the brighter one fragmented. Very nice meteors but we certainly expected more for our efforts :-(
Bob Lunsford"
Montclair, VA, USA
Not much from Montclair, va. - Kate P."
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
"I'm a firm believer that negative data is still valuable data. I was only able to see one Camelopardalid meteor this morning in two hours of careful visual observing from the Indianapolis Southeast Side. So, as far as I can see, there was no meteor storm or even a major shower. There was perhaps a minor shower. Here are some details: First session 6:30 - 7:30 UT May 24. Center of FOV was 17h +65°. LM = 4.87 mag. No meteors seen at all even though by my standards, with city lighting, the sky was about as clear as it can get. Second session 8:00 - 9:00 UT May 24. Center of FOV = 19h +70°. LM = 4.82 mag. 1 CAM seen at 8:24 UT. This was a 2.0 mag. flare below Polaris and Gamma Cephei very close to the radiant. Dawn light ended my observing on this clear but chilly late May morning. I hope others had better luck! -Paul Z."
Chiloquin, OR, USA
"Hello good morning all
By now i assume that the N. American contigent is in "Aaaah"s and "Ooooohs" from CAMs.
Did a 1.5 hour stint at 00:00utc till 01:30utc LM 4 last night and nothing seen.
Expecting that the rest of you have better news.. :) Best regards,- Alex SV1NZX"
Greece
"Hello to all! Ok we are (Greece) anyway outside the maximun, but still I
went out for 1.5 hours (1900-2030 UT). With a sky lm ~5-5.5 I saw 0 CAMs.
I hope you catch the rest! Cheers! -Grigoris"
Benningbroek, North Holland
A nice very slow -3 Camelopardalid was captured by EN95 in Benningbroek.
We also saw this beautiful coloured and very slow meteor in the
Dijkgatsbos in the northern part of the Netherlands.
The police was interested too.They heard on the radio that a 'meteorstorm' was going on,
so they went with 2 cars to the Dijkgatsbos to see some meteors. And just when a beautiful -3 Camelopardalid appeared, they looked at the wrong side and missed it... -Jos Nijland"
Meteor Crater, AZ, USA
"Observing from Arizona, close to the Meteor Crater. Some clouds during the observing session from 6.30 UT to 8 UT. Best period was the first 15 minutes, with some nice CAM fireballs. The radiant was very low, so it is difficult to estimate the ZHR, but it was probably under 50. All the CAMs brighter than magnitude 3, despite the dark sky ( sky brightness 21,5 mag per sq.arcsec, SQM) .Clear skies! -Francisco Ocaña"
went out for 1.5 hours (1900-2030 UT). With a sky lm ~5-5.5 I saw 0 CAMs.
I hope you catch the rest! Cheers! -Grigoris"
Benningbroek, North Holland
A nice very slow -3 Camelopardalid was captured by EN95 in Benningbroek.
We also saw this beautiful coloured and very slow meteor in the
Dijkgatsbos in the northern part of the Netherlands.
The police was interested too.They heard on the radio that a 'meteorstorm' was going on,
so they went with 2 cars to the Dijkgatsbos to see some meteors. And just when a beautiful -3 Camelopardalid appeared, they looked at the wrong side and missed it... -Jos Nijland"
Meteor Crater, AZ, USA
"Observing from Arizona, close to the Meteor Crater. Some clouds during the observing session from 6.30 UT to 8 UT. Best period was the first 15 minutes, with some nice CAM fireballs. The radiant was very low, so it is difficult to estimate the ZHR, but it was probably under 50. All the CAMs brighter than magnitude 3, despite the dark sky ( sky brightness 21,5 mag per sq.arcsec, SQM) .Clear skies! -Francisco Ocaña"
Brasilia, Brasil
"6:11pm May 24
Spaceweather:
NOT A METEOR STORM: As predicted, during the early hours of May 24th Earth passed through a cloud of debris from from Comet 209P/LINEAR. The encounter produced some fine meteors. However, contrary to some forecasts, there was no intense outburst. Meteor rates in many places were no more than 5 or 10 per hour.
Photographing such a sparse shower can be tricky. Nevertheless, Glen Wurden of Los Alamos, New Mexico, managed to catch one:
- http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=97643
"I photographed this Camelopardalid through clouds using a 30 second exposure," says Wurden. "We saw about one meteor every 10 minutes."
Although this is a far cry from predictions, it is hardly a surprise. The parent comet, 209P/LINEAR, is faint and currently produces only a small amount of dust. Most forecasters acknowldged that there might be less dust in Earth's path than the models suggested.
Another possibility is that the shower is not a dud, just delayed. If models mis-located the debris zone, an outburst could still occur later on May 24th
Mais fotos dos (poucos) Camelopardalideas aqui:
http://spaceweathergallery.com/meteor_gallery.html - Carlos Augusto Di Pietro"
Spaceweather:
NOT A METEOR STORM: As predicted, during the early hours of May 24th Earth passed through a cloud of debris from from Comet 209P/LINEAR. The encounter produced some fine meteors. However, contrary to some forecasts, there was no intense outburst. Meteor rates in many places were no more than 5 or 10 per hour.
Photographing such a sparse shower can be tricky. Nevertheless, Glen Wurden of Los Alamos, New Mexico, managed to catch one:
- http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=97643
"I photographed this Camelopardalid through clouds using a 30 second exposure," says Wurden. "We saw about one meteor every 10 minutes."
Although this is a far cry from predictions, it is hardly a surprise. The parent comet, 209P/LINEAR, is faint and currently produces only a small amount of dust. Most forecasters acknowldged that there might be less dust in Earth's path than the models suggested.
Another possibility is that the shower is not a dud, just delayed. If models mis-located the debris zone, an outburst could still occur later on May 24th
Mais fotos dos (poucos) Camelopardalideas aqui:
http://spaceweathergallery.com/meteor_gallery.html - Carlos Augusto Di Pietro"
Near Chicago, Ill, USA
"On an early Thursday morning here in the midwest, near Chicago, at 0323 hrs, I arrived at my closest observing site to check out conditions. It has expected amount of Chicago Metro and Rockford/Belevidere/Beloit skyglow, but is in a shallow depression about eight miles north of the farm, so I get zero farmyard lights in my view... very handy. I faced my canoe chair away from the Moon and sat down. At 0402 hrs CDT, I observed a -4 mag meteor traveling much slower than usual. It had 15 degrees of white, persistant train with orange sparks, and traced back to the CAM radiant. Even if we only see two or three of these BAD BOYS per hour on Friday into Saturday, I will be very happy. As Ever, Orin in Boone County, IL near Chicago - Orink"
Southern California, USA
"I had to drive over 100 miles eastward into Imperial County to escape the low clouds and fog over San Diego. My son and I pulled over in a clearing off highway 98 to see what we could. There were plenty of lights but at least the sky was clear. LM estimate was probably near +6.0. The temperature was in the low 70's F but the wind was blowing hard out of the west so it felt chilly. Meteors were scarce with only 2 CAM's and perhaps a dozen others being seen from 5:15 to 8:30 UT. The 2 CAMS were -1 and -3. Both were distinctly orange and the brighter one fragmented. Very nice meteors but we certainly expected more for our efforts :-(
Bob Lunsford"
Montclair, VA, USA
Not much from Montclair, va. - Kate P."
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
"I'm a firm believer that negative data is still valuable data. I was only able to see one Camelopardalid meteor this morning in two hours of careful visual observing from the Indianapolis Southeast Side. So, as far as I can see, there was no meteor storm or even a major shower. There was perhaps a minor shower. Here are some details: First session 6:30 - 7:30 UT May 24. Center of FOV was 17h +65°. LM = 4.87 mag. No meteors seen at all even though by my standards, with city lighting, the sky was about as clear as it can get. Second session 8:00 - 9:00 UT May 24. Center of FOV = 19h +70°. LM = 4.82 mag. 1 CAM seen at 8:24 UT. This was a 2.0 mag. flare below Polaris and Gamma Cephei very close to the radiant. Dawn light ended my observing on this clear but chilly late May morning. I hope others had better luck! -Paul Z."
New Mexico, USA
"I've checked 56 images (60 sec exposure time each) of an all-sky cam located at the ISON-NM observatory (New Mexico) in the time period from 08:13 to 09:13 UT (24.05.2014). Stellar limiting magnitude on images was rather low at ~3 mag due to poor weather conditions. No meteors found. Best regards, Sergei Schmalz"Chiloquin, OR, USA
"I can report sparse but definite Camelopardalid activity. I observed from 5:30-8:45 UT and counted 11 Camelopardalids, 16 sporadics and 3 Anthelions. Limiting magnitude ranged from 6.4-6.7. The Camelopardalids were faint with a mean magnitude of 3.2 (mean magnitude of the sporadics was 2.7). The brightest one was magnitude +1 and this was especially impressive because it was near the radiant and took several seconds to traverse its short path. It had a golden, teardrop-shaped head. A magnitude +2 Camelopardalid that passed very near Polaris was almost as impressive. The first Camelopardalid appeared at 6:05UT, and the last at 8:29. I saw no meteors of any kind during the last 16 minutes of the watch. With such low activity, there wasn’t much that could be called clumping, although 3 Camelopardalids in 6 minutes around 7:30 got my hopes up. Definitely nothing to justify the media attention, but not an absolute bust. -Wes Stone"
Minsk
"23.05.2014 meteors and bolids in 21:30-23:58 UT I have not seen ... (new meteor shower in Camelopardalis)(2 observers) Clear skies! -Ivan"
Havana, Cuba
"It has been a long time since my last meteor observation and report. Work commitments and other difficulties had keep me away of the meteor radio observation.
However, one of my current task at my work place is the development and maintenance of a new acquisition system for the ionospheric sounder of the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy.
When monitoring the data I am very happy to watch how during the last few days mostly all of our ionograms has sporadic layers, probably due to the meteor stream.
For all those interested in watch a meteor shower from another perspective here is the link for the real time ionograms from the station I work.
http://www.iga.cu/Departamentos/estacion-ionosferica/ips42.html
I will try to compile an small report regarding the number sporadic layers during the last few days. Not all sporadic layers may have a meteor origin, but it will be nice to see how does the umbers behave during this particular shower. Best wishes, Raydel, CM2ESP"
Greenbrier, AR, USA
"Around midnight local time I thought the sky would clear, but other than
getting to see Mars in the SW and a blurry big dipper, haze was ubiquitous.
Never could see Polaris, so I called it a night around 1:45am. Saw no
meteors at all. -Terry Johnson"
French Alpes, France
"I was out this night to observe some camelopardalids in the french Alpes Mountains.
I observed between 22h UT and 03h UT, and saw 4 or 5 camelopardalids during 3h15 effective watch but i didn't observed a really increasing activity of the CAMs.
The observation was affected by clouds and so i did several pauses.
The report come later. Clear skies to all ! -Jens L."
Minsk
"23.05.2014 meteors and bolids in 21:30-23:58 UT I have not seen ... (new meteor shower in Camelopardalis)(2 observers) Clear skies! -Ivan"
Havana, Cuba
"It has been a long time since my last meteor observation and report. Work commitments and other difficulties had keep me away of the meteor radio observation.
However, one of my current task at my work place is the development and maintenance of a new acquisition system for the ionospheric sounder of the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy.
When monitoring the data I am very happy to watch how during the last few days mostly all of our ionograms has sporadic layers, probably due to the meteor stream.
For all those interested in watch a meteor shower from another perspective here is the link for the real time ionograms from the station I work.
http://www.iga.cu/Departamentos/estacion-ionosferica/ips42.html
I will try to compile an small report regarding the number sporadic layers during the last few days. Not all sporadic layers may have a meteor origin, but it will be nice to see how does the umbers behave during this particular shower. Best wishes, Raydel, CM2ESP"
Greenbrier, AR, USA
"Around midnight local time I thought the sky would clear, but other than
getting to see Mars in the SW and a blurry big dipper, haze was ubiquitous.
Never could see Polaris, so I called it a night around 1:45am. Saw no
meteors at all. -Terry Johnson"
French Alpes, France
"I was out this night to observe some camelopardalids in the french Alpes Mountains.
I observed between 22h UT and 03h UT, and saw 4 or 5 camelopardalids during 3h15 effective watch but i didn't observed a really increasing activity of the CAMs.
The observation was affected by clouds and so i did several pauses.
The report come later. Clear skies to all ! -Jens L."
California, USA?
"I agree with Bob that even a (mostly) negative report is of value. And in that spirit...I was out from 1:45 - 3:50 AM local time and saw only the expected late-spring smattering of sporadics. There were two possible CAMs the entire night, one a splendid slow-moving +1 long-pathed meteor that didn't align all that terribly well, and another very brief and faint meteor near the given radiant, both just after 3:00 local time. Skies were very clear with about a +6 or better LM. Beyond these two maybes, I saw perhaps 8 - 10 SPOs. -Kim Youmans"
South Carolina, USA
I wanted to post a quick note of my results from near the coast of South
Carolina. Under clear skies, I observed from 0130-0430 local time
(0530-0830 UT) and did not see exceptional activity. The first hour was
my best with perhaps 15 CAMs. The second and third hour they dropped off
to being only a couple per hour. Based on what I witnessed, it seemed
the strongest activity occurred shortly after midnight local time. The
low radiant altitude at my location (32 degrees north) may have
contributed to this.
Full report to IMO next, and I will post my full data to the list as well.-Mark Davis"
Ottawa, Ontario
"I just got back home from a successful 5 hour observation under mag 6.4 skies. Mainly clear skies with a few dissipating passing clouds.The Camelopardalids (CAM) were a disappointment - just a weak background activity. There was no sharp peak nor any hint of heightened activity near the predicted time of maximum. Instead, I saw a few CAM's each hour of the night. Overall, maybe 20-something CAM's... Still some beautiful meteors! Brightest CAM was a gorgeous mag -3 meteor that crawled ever so slowly, with a two sec train (possibly photographed by Raymond Dubois who was observing with me). The CAM's seen at the beginning of night were mostly bright, while the ones seen near the end of the night were predominantly dim. The brighter ones seemed to fragment (nebulous appearance) towards the end of their path. I observed until bright twilight in case of a late maximum, but nothing more happened.
Perhaps this comet has been almost completely dormant in the past centuries after all.
I'll listen to the tape and transcribe my data later this weekend. Clear skies!-Pierre Martin"
Courtenay, B.C., Canada
"I posted an Asgard All-sky Camera fireball video on my Facebook page, "Ed Peter Majden". It was captured on 2014-05-14 at 05.15.03 UT. Possibly an early CAM from the dust trail of Comet P/209 Linear. I was hoping to set up a couple of spectrographs to capture a spectrum or two, but sadly, the weather is not cooperating on this part of Vancouver Island. Looks like the peak will be cloudy! :-( Just the luck of this game! Sure would be nice to get some clear skies here.-Ed Majden"
Screech Owl Hill Observatory, Mountain Meadows, Mathias, West Virginia
May 24-26, 2014
Date Time (UT) LM Teff Obst. FOV CAM ANT CAS ETA SPO
5/24/14 6:00-7:00 6.6 0.95 5% 20+65 1 3 4 1 11
5/24/14 7:00-8:00 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 1 4 3 0 7
[Break 8:00-8:11 UT]
5/24/14 8;12-8:42 6.3 0.5 0% 22+65 1 2 1 0 3
5/25/14 5:55-6:55 6.4 1.0 0% 20+65 2 4 1 0 5
5/25/14 6:55-7:55 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 0 3 1 1 7
5/26/14 5:55-6:55 6.5 1.0 0% 20+65 0 4 3 1 8
5/26/14 6:55-7:55 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 0 2 1 1 6
A casual 2nd magnitude CAM was also seen earlier on the 24th
at ~3:20 UT that had a distinct orange-yellow color.
Possible radiant in Cassepeia (CAS) at 23.5+60 seen. Video
and radar observers may want to check on this. This possible
radiant was still active on the morning of the 26th.
Magn. Distributions 05/24-26/14, LM=6.5 Ave. Teff=6.45 hrs.
0 1 2 3 4 5 total Ave.
CAM 0 1 0 2 2 0 5 3.0
ANT 2 3 4 8 3 2 22 2.6
CAS 0 1 1 3 4 5 14 3.8
ETA 0 2 1 1 0 0 4 1.8
SPO 2 4 6 12 14 9 47 3.3
- George Gliba
Screech Owl Hill Observatory, Mountain Meadows, Mathias, West Virginia
May 24-26, 2014
Date Time (UT) LM Teff Obst. FOV CAM ANT CAS ETA SPO
5/24/14 6:00-7:00 6.6 0.95 5% 20+65 1 3 4 1 11
5/24/14 7:00-8:00 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 1 4 3 0 7
[Break 8:00-8:11 UT]
5/24/14 8;12-8:42 6.3 0.5 0% 22+65 1 2 1 0 3
5/25/14 5:55-6:55 6.4 1.0 0% 20+65 2 4 1 0 5
5/25/14 6:55-7:55 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 0 3 1 1 7
5/26/14 5:55-6:55 6.5 1.0 0% 20+65 0 4 3 1 8
5/26/14 6:55-7:55 6.6 1.0 0% 21+65 0 2 1 1 6
A casual 2nd magnitude CAM was also seen earlier on the 24th
at ~3:20 UT that had a distinct orange-yellow color.
Possible radiant in Cassepeia (CAS) at 23.5+60 seen. Video
and radar observers may want to check on this. This possible
radiant was still active on the morning of the 26th.
Magn. Distributions 05/24-26/14, LM=6.5 Ave. Teff=6.45 hrs.
0 1 2 3 4 5 total Ave.
CAM 0 1 0 2 2 0 5 3.0
ANT 2 3 4 8 3 2 22 2.6
CAS 0 1 1 3 4 5 14 3.8
ETA 0 2 1 1 0 0 4 1.8
SPO 2 4 6 12 14 9 47 3.3
- George Gliba
2014 The Year of "CERTAIN Uncertainty" ™; Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and MORE!!
