Best meteor shower of 2021 Weds. Night 8/11/21

[Guest]

On 8/10/2021 at 11:15 AM, billpeters said:

Its time for another Barbeque by Meteorite. ... where I expect the meteor landing spot will start the barbeque. 

billpeters

Do you mix together the flint flakes,wood fluff and sugar pine tar splinters ? Or fluff on top, then flint, then sappy splinters?

[BMc]

1 hour ago, Stillweaver hillbelli said:

Doesn't  happen on meteors

Logical deduction. Nor do they start fires, with the rare exception that if they land in the right spot they have been know to start a barbecue . . .

[Bedrock Bob]

When a meteorite hits they often disturb old glass that focuses light on rotten leaves that may be in contact with an oxidizer. This raises the temperature which supports an exothermic reaction that causes spontaneous combustion which in turn ignites the BBQ grill.

It happens all the time.  

 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Bedrock Bob said:

When a meteorite hits they often disturb old glass that focuses light on rotten leaves that may be in contact with an oxidizer. This raises the temperature which supports an exothermic reaction that causes spontaneous combustion which in turn ignites the BBQ grill.

It happens all the time.  

 

How about the meteorite  hits flint on impact, sparking the dry grass/pitchpine alight inside the barbeque 

[Bedrock Bob]

Just now, Stillweaver hillbelli said:

How about the meteorite  hits flint on impact, sparking the dry grass/pitchpine alight inside the barbeque 

With as many meteorites falling these days you can hardly leave a bag of charcoal outside. 

 

[DarkSilicate]

You fellers are cracking me up : ). Any of you get to see any meteors from this shower?  I'm going to go out again tonight to see if there is enough break in the smoke to see any of those flashing blips.  One year we were out not too long after it got dark and saw a very big one that left a tunnel of glowing gases behind as it went across the sky.  It was spectacular to see.  Never know, might get to see another one.  

[Au Seeker]

7 hours ago, Bedrock Bob said:

Yeah, the "click clacks" would cause fires as well as explode if you clacked them too hard. 

As soon as the string broke on those things we would shoot them with the .22. They would detonate into a bazillion pieces. It's a wonder someone didn't lose an eye.

The actual brand name of those original balls on a string was "Clackers", I'm sure there were some knock-offs by other names, my brothers and I all had numerous sets of the originals and had contests to see who could go the longest, fastest, loudest, etc., you could also use them as a simple make shift Bola throwing weapon but, a 2 ball version instead of 3, which of course we did, sometimes we tie 2 sets together to have a 4 ball Bola, they wouldn't tangle around your legs and trip you because the string was too short but they hurt like hell if you got hit by them, boys will be boys!! LOL

They would explode in many pieces after a while of wear and tear in normal use and many,many people did get hurt by them and I'm sure at least one if not many more lost an eye, we had a few friends that got hurt by them, the bodily harm they caused when exploding was what got them "outlawed" along with the original "Lawn Darts" after numerous dumb people who didn't have enough sense to get out of the way of the darts returning to earth got them stuck in their head and other body parts!!! 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, DarkSilicate said:

You fellers are cracking me up : ). Any of you get to see any meteors from this shower?  I'm going to go out again 

Im going to try a 2am wakeup. Seen in years past. I think it runs several  weeks.

[DarkSilicate]

A little more moon, little more clouds, and a little more smoke so tonight not so good so far.  I am going to try to check outside a couple times tonight to see if any of that changes.  Sure would like to see a few more bright blips.  Hope where you all are at is better visibility.   Bortle class here tonight is about 4-5 so we will see.  

[Guest]

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/perseid.html

[billpeters]

I saw 52 meteors last night over 2.5 hours, 39 were Perseids. The brightest and longest ones were early in the evening. About half had momentary trails. My last half hour I saw 20 before it nearly fully clouded over. They were good meteors, but the hourly count was well below years past. I also saw this week's new nova in Ophiuchus.

billpeters

[Morlock]

54 minutes ago, billpeters said:

I saw 52 meteors last night over 2.5 hours, 39 were Perseids. The brightest and longest ones were early in the evening. About half had momentary trails. My last half hour I saw 20 before it nearly fully clouded over. They were good meteors, but the hourly count was well below years past. I also saw this week's new nova in Ophiuchus.

billpeters

I'm sure you have a telescope but you don't use it for spotting meteors. What kind do you have?

[billpeters]

23 minutes ago, Morlock said:

I'm sure you have a telescope but you don't use it for spotting meteors. What kind do you have?

I hand built a 12.5 inch telescope that stands about 2 meters high. I hand ground a blank 45 lb pyrex mirror without electronics. It took forever. I'll never do that again. Its got good optics though. I must have done it right. I'll be taking it out on my next viewing.

billpeters

[Bedrock Bob]

46 minutes ago, billpeters said:

I hand built a 12.5 inch telescope that stands about 2 meters high. I hand ground a blank 45 lb pyrex mirror without electronics. It took forever. I'll never do that again. Its got good optics though. I must have done it right. I'll be taking it out on my next viewing.

billpeters

What a hoot man! Polishing is an art form. You could build an airplane with less effort 

In Chloride, New Mexico in the heart of the Black Range there is a cabin. It belonged to a fellow named Schmidt. He was a fascinating guy that did a lot of things. His photographs of New Mexico are treasured historical documents. His cabin in Chloride was a meeting place for smart people back in the mid to late 1900's.

 He had a buddy that was an astronomer at the university in Las Cruces. His name was Clyde Tombaugh. Tombaugh liked to go up to Chloride and visit. They would stargaze and tell tales. There were a half dozen smart old buzzards from the nuclear bomb project and the space program that liked to hang with them. Rumor has it alcohol was often involved. 

They built a telescope and a loft on the cabin. The telescope has a pretty big mirror. I'm not sure but I think it is about 16" or so in diameter. Mr. Schmidt said it took a year to perfect it. It has tractor parts and automobile parts in the mechanism. They painted it bright red. It was mounted on a concrete base and the roof of the loft opened up.

A close relative of mine was a good friend of Mr. Schmidt. He wound up with the cabin in Chloride about 1980. That telescope was still in the loft when we used to hang out at that cabin. 

We knew very little about astronomy. But we looked at the moon with it. And one night there was a fellow in the group that was able to focus it on a nebulae and a couple planets. That was probably the only times that telescope had been used since Mr. Schmidt died.

The entire Schmidt collection including the telescope has been removed from the cabin and is now in the hands of various museums and private collections. He had tons of minerals, old photos and books, artifacts and things of all kinds in that cabin.

I have no idea where the telescope wound up. I bet it would be worth a pile of money today. There was a shelf of notes and drawings in the loft that Tombaugh and Schmidt took too. 

I was a young guy always running around looking for treasure. I didn't have enough sense to realize I was looking through it. 

Whenever I meet a guy that has actually built a telescope I have to tell that story. 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Bedrock Bob
Edited for reasons I cannot explain.

[JoshuaTreePreserveAZ]

Just had to share my recent find in the desert :P lol

Paid my $3 for it.

[DarkSilicate]

I remember seeing those before only maybe different colours.  What ya gonna do with 'em?

[JoshuaTreePreserveAZ]

Just gonna keep them in my old travel trailer, hope it won't catch anything on fire though. lol

[Bedrock Bob]

1 hour ago, JoshuaTreePreserveAZ said:

Just gonna keep them in my old travel trailer, hope it won't catch anything on fire though. lol

Put them in a sunny spot on a wood table. Make sure to put a newspaper on the table too. And remember to wipe the table down with linseed oil. It really makes the wood shine and preserves the beauty.