Perseids 2002

Nearly moon-free conditions permitted numerous valuable observations of the nights around the Perseid maximum. The peak time was 22h30 UT on August 12 if a solar longitude of 140.0 degrees is assumed. This time favoured European sites, but large parts of central Europe suffered from clouds and rain around August 12.

We present a first activity curve of the 2002 Perseids
based on the reports of 140 observers from 30 countries
as listed below. The averages include only observing
periods with a total correction smaller than 8.0 and
radiant elevations higher than 10 degrees. Since a number
of new observers contributed to the profile, we made use
of perception factors based on the total sporadic activity
for all individuals. Details about the analysis will be
found in an updated article in the October issue of WGN,
the Journal of the IMO. This first curve was obtained
with a constant populatsion index of r=2.0 and no corrections for the radiant elevation hR other than sin(hR).

The maximum of the 2002 Perseids falls near a solar
longitude of 140.0 (eq. J2000.0), although the curve
actually exhibits a plateau between 139.9 and 140.16 when
ZHRs exceeded 80. Peak rates are about ZHR = 90 +-5.
This result makes the 2002 Perseids a typical return,
and the early peak seen in 1988-1999 does not appear or
might at best be the (hardly significant) enhancement
at sol=139.91.

  
  -----------------------------------------------  
  Date (UT)  Sollong #Obs #PER ZHR +/-  
  -----------------------------------------------  
  Aug 2, 21:30 130.3762 5  10 8.4 2.5  
  Aug 4, 00:20 131.4479 16  40 7.2 1.1  
  Aug 5, 22:30 133.2870 12 106 14.2 1.4  
  Aug 7, 05:00 134.5055 8  63 11.8 1.5  
  Aug 8, 02:50 135.3795 21 166 16.0 1.2  
  Aug 8, 21:00 136.1065 10 135 27.0 2.3  
  Aug 9, 03:20 136.3613 37 476 18.6 0.9  
  Aug 10, 01:14 137.2351 22 299 25.9 1.5  
  Aug 10, 18:30 137.9254 23 345 29.2 1.6  
  Aug 11, 03:40 138.2901 57 808 33.5 1.2  
  Aug 11, 21:30 139.0022 33 406 38.1 1.9  
  Aug 12, 04:20 139.2746 37 931 62.2 2.0  
  Aug 12, 15:50 139.7384 30 946 75.4 2.5  
  Aug 12, 20:00 139.9056 43 941 89.1 2.9  
  Aug 12, 21:40 139.9723 53 968 82.6 2.7  
  Aug 12, 23:00 140.0231 47 973 87.6 2.8  
  Aug 13, 00:30 140.0821 37 866 83.4 2.8  
  Aug 13, 02:20 140.1614 36 983 87.4 2.8  
  Aug 13, 09:20 140.4398 22 482 65.0 3.0  
  Aug 13, 22:00 140.9438 50 966 49.8 1.6  
  Aug 14, 01:30 141.0818 56 820 44.0 1.5  
  Aug 14, 23:50 141.9778 36 465 25.4 1.2  
  Aug 15, 23:30 142.9231 17 136 15.3 1.3  
  Aug 16, 14:50 143.5420 5  28 12.3 2.3  
  Aug 16, 23:20 143.8795 11  55 13.2 1.8  
  -----------------------------------------------  
  

Solar longitudes refer to eq. J2000.0, #Obs is the number
of observing periods included in the average, #PER is the
number of shower meteors involved. The error margins are
ZHR/sqrt(#PER).

We would like to thank the following contributors and the
ones having sent their reports very recently who do not
feature in the below list:

Ahmad Abdo (Jordan), Robert Lunsford (USA),
Haitham Abdel Majid (Jordan), Hartwig Luthen (Germany),
Sana'a Abdo (Jordan), Jin Ma (China),
Puya Ahmadifard (Iran), Qiang Ma (China),
Ardalan Alizadeh (Iran), Xiaoyun Ma (China),
Ahmad Al-Niamat (Jordan), Alan Macrobert (USA),
Karl Antier (France), Petra Maierova (Czech Republic),
Jure Atanackov (Slovenia), Veikko Makela (Finland),
Aleksandar Atevik (Macedonia), Radek Maly (Czech Republic),
Javad Azizi (Iran), Grigoris Maravelias (Greece),
Lars Bakmann (Denmark), Jose A. dos Reis Martins (Portugal),
Adriyan Bozinovski (Macedonia), Pierre Martin (Canada),
Jay Brausch (USA), Ashley Matous (USA),
Emil Brezina (Czech Republic), Bert Matous (USA),
Dustin Brown (USA), Alastair McBeath (UK),
Stefan Cikota (Croatia), Huan Meng (China),
Malcolm J. Currie (UK), Frederic Merlin (France),
Hani Dalee (Jordan), Markko Meriniit (Estonia),
Denis Denissenko (Russia), Rein Merendi (Estonia),
Samer Derbi (Jordan), Ali Moosazadeh (Iran),
Vincent Desmarais (Canada), Thom Morgan (USA),
Peter Detterline (USA), Arash Nabizadeh (Iran),
Miha Devetak (Slovenia), Goran Niksic (Croatia),
Jaka Dobaj (Slovenia), Brian Nilsson (Denmark),
Subo Dong (China), Markku Nissinen (Finland),
Audrius Dubietis (Lithuania), Daniel van Os (Netherlands),
Vedrana Dzaja (Croatia), Irena Pickova (Czech Republic),
Shlomi Eini (Israel), Carles Pineda Ferre (Spain),
Sven-Erik Enno (Estonia), Senka Pintaric (Croatia),
Dunja Fabjan (Slovenia), Jurgen Rendtel (Germany),
David Fernandez Barba (Spain), Mileny Roche Lamas (Cuba),
Lukas Ferkl (Czech Republic), Miguel Serra Martin (Spain),
Mildred Formosa (Malta), Mazyar Seyyednezhad (Iran),
Martin Galea (Malta), Mohammad Reza Shafaroodee (Iran),
Xing Gao (China), Sergey Shanov (Russia),
George W. Gliba (USA), Quanzhi Shen (China),
Darja Golikowa (Germany), Brian Shulist (Canada),
Eva Grillova (Czech Republic), Julia Silina (Estonia),
Daniel Grun (Germany), Masa Sinreih (Slovenia),
Pavol Habuda (Slovakia), Hana Sipova (Czech Republic),
Cathy Hall (Canada), Urmas Sisask (Estonia),
Amir Hassanzadeh (Iran), Jiri Srba (Czech republic),
Takema Hashimoto (Japan), Mark Stafford (USA),
Harri Haukka (Finland), Enrico Stomeo (Italy),
Veli-Pekka Hentunen (Finland), Wesley Stone (USA),
Zoltan Hevesi (Hungary), Nikola Strah (Croatia),
Ken Hodonsky (USA), Pavel Svozil (Czech Republic),
Kamil Hornoch (Czech Republic), Richard Taibi (USA),
Jurgen Janes (Estonia), Indrek Tallo (Estonia),
Carl Johannink (Netherlands), Josep M. Trigo Rodriguez (Spain),
Tomislav Jurkic (Croatia), Arnold Tukkers (Netherlands),
Javor Kac (Slovenia), Shigeo Uchiyama (Japan),
Mihkel Kama (Estonia), Michel Vandeputte (Belgium),
Esam Kasasbeh (Jordan), Jan Verfl (Czech Republic),
Gregor Kladnik (Slovenia), Johanna Vihalem (Estonia),
Khalil Konsul (Jordan), Arash Voghoee (Iran),
Petra Korlevic (Croatia), Quanzhi Ye (China),
Marek Kozubal (Canada), Kim S. Youmans (USA),
Dovile Krauleidiene (Lithuania), Robert Young (USA),
Vladimir Krumov (Bulgaria), Yin Yue (China),
Maris Kuperjanov (Estonia), Jure Zakrajsek (Slovenia),
Nina Lampic (Slovenia), Joseph Zammit (Malta),
Marco Langbroek (Netherlands), Jan Zavitski (Estonia),
Anna S. Levina (Israel), Liu Zenglin (China),
Chun Li (China), Bo Zhang (China),
Xian Li (China), Kun Zhou (China),
Yang Li (China), Jin Zhu (China),
Michael Linnolt (USA), Ziyi Zhu (China),
Andre Lipand (Estonia), Jurga Zieniute (Lithuania),
Madis Lohmus (Estonia) and Vladimir Znojil (Czech Republic).