Visual Observations July 2001 by DMS members

Prepared on August 15, 2001 by Koen Miskotte (Visual section)



In the Netherlands, july appeared to be a worse month concerning weather conditions, just like last year. We only experienced a few hazy nights. Weather in Belgium was often better (see the many observations of Belgium DMS observer Michel Vanderputte).
But luckily, some DMS observers went to more sunny locations (Austria, Italy and Greece) and they where able to carry out a whole lot of observations. They were able to monitor the Southern streams like the delta Aquarids north and south, the Capricornids and even some Pisces Austrinids were seen. Weatherconditions in these areas proved to be fine. From Italy (Carl Johannink) and Chios island (Greece, Koen Miskotte) the delta Aquarids setup a fine show, with hourly rates up to 20!
In contradiction to the delta Aquarids, the Capricornids did not fulfill our expectations like in 1984. Carl Johannink and Koen Miskotte observed this stream in 1984 from southern France and they sometimes observed 7 Capricornids in one hour and many bright ones (even some fireballs up to -8!). Maybe the 1984 show of the Capricornids turned out to be something special?
So july ended up as a fine month to the DMS visual section. During 16 nights 7 observers observed 227 Perseïds, 324 delta Aquarids north/south (which is a record since 1984, 1985 and 1986 when DMS observers of team Delphinus visited southern France during the Perseïd campaigns), 89 Capricornids, 16 phi Cygnids, 2 Saggitarids, 3 Pisces Austrinids, 1 july Pegasid and 11 early kappa Cygnids. So, together with the 851 sporadic meteors this makes a total of 1524 meteors. They were observed during 79,24 hours.


DMS visual results july 2001

DMS visual results july 2001