Perseids 2004 - Cloudy Sky Attempt - A Bintan Beach experience. Ver
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| (top) Now, where are the stars? | (top) Kampung-style lodging | ||
| After the legendary successful prediction model(s) on the Leonids, the meteor researchers had applied their similar methodologies on other meteor streams 2004- June Bootids ( foiled by bad weather in S'pore ) and Perseid. It was the 'first revolution' dust trail predicted to cut across earth on Aug 11 20 50 hr that caught my attention. A mini 'storm level' is even hinted. East Asia were favored and 'Luna' is not much of a problem. But one problem left - the infamous weather.... | |||
Now where should I go for the show? It must be nearby and accessible and
cheap. So I thought why not Bintan? But what are my chances? A check with Weather
satellite map indicated a fairy high chance of clouded over at this time
of the year. Even the peninsula Malaya was not spared. 
From Tanah Merah Terminal, Bintan Island is just a 45-50 minutes ferry ride away. The crossing was uneventful and we did not manage to shed off the white-out sky seen in S'pore. We hopped on the resort transport and found ourselves at the Mana Mana's airy but spartan reception desk. We were assigned Rm 15 but quickly found out the switch board tripped repeatedly - a obvious short somewhere. We ended up on unit #19. The room was a short distance from the shore line. Before nightfall we quickly checked out the beach. The sea looked calm. For the first night we decided to 'eat-in'. Dinner was served under the sea-almond trees the fallen seeds occasionally bombarding the wooden platform with a loud ' thud' sound . A fruity meteorite. |
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| (top) Aptly named Bintang or 'Star' Beer' | |||
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We tried the recommended Jono's Fried Rice, washed down with
ice-chilled local beer - Bintang (Star) Beer with gentle lapping of the ocean
wave in the background. Not many
diners were around. While waiting for the food I had a quick peep of the night
sky above. Using my
palm to shield off the blinding lights from the spot-light angled in
the trunks of coconut trees I could just make out the rival of Mars - Antares and the rest
of the Scorpion's body. Sky was indeed no better than back home.
We needed miracle.
Carina and friend joined us later in the evening. They too were disappointed by the weather. Around 1:00 am (s'pore time) we headed for a dark spot on the beach - now deserted. While the two girls preferred the more comfortable beach deckchair we had chosen to simply lying on the groundsheet. The sky was far from perfect for meteors: only a handful of stars shone through the high-altitude clouds. |
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| (top) Bintan's 'meteorite' - Ripe Sea-almond Seed | |||
| For nearly two and half hours of gazing at the
lousy sky we killed time by 'story-telling' and even had time for red wine.
Handfuls of visible stars were - the corner stars of the Square of Pegasus, the
simple two-starred Aries. Lower in the elevation Perseus
/ Cassiopeia were not even detectable.
Hours passed, then out of no-where a yellowish meteor
appeared on the west of the square as if announcing the slight improvement
of sky condition. Then slowing and widely time-spaced the fast
velocity Perseid surfaced. They
were fast and white-yellowish in color. Highlight of the
picks was one negative magnitude Green Perseid that left a wake of 2
seconds. Then there was this pair of Perseids zipping down the
eastern horizon near the edge of my visual FOV - with the peared shaped
meteor heads and tiny short tails. I expected a longer path
length being so far away from radiant. They seemes to appear
very spread-out in the sky: below Aries,
eastern corner of Pegasus, and down the low eastern horizons. After logging a
count of 12-14, then the clouds rolled by and the sky never recovered.
In
the east were old crescent moon with Venus close- by all looked pretty 'muted' by the
sheet-like clouds. One video camera was utilized. And despite close to the
water line , dews was settling on every surfaces . We packed and left the beach. In total I only managed 12 Perseids and 1 SPO in that window of ~ 1 hour, a very small 'haul' [ comparing to 400-500 Perseids seen by others in other parts of the world] but still much better than going home 'empty-handed'. Many explanations were offered why the slight 'reprieve ' towards the end of the observation. Is it Divine intervention? or simple breaks from the drifting clouds or simply plain luck. Or may be its the Star Beer. [ on retrospect - with higher ZHR, brighter meteor CAN be seen even through clouds... I remember one bright Leonid... shinning through clouds - it must be d*** bright] Back home I ran the tape through the pc & visual inspection of the 1 hour tape : three perseids , some birds, an unknown bird/bat? doing a figure-of-eight flight( chasing after insects?) ,and one quick-flashing satellite. This latter man-make 'firefly' creeping pass alpha Pegasus. The flash pattern had a familar look - it was EGP (trajectory confirmed using Mccant's latest TLE). The other two video cameras were not engaged because of the suspected AGC response-related problems. Two Canon-T70 cameras loaded with fast films lied idle. Second night Aug (12/13) was a complete wash-out. I woke up Aug 13 around 2:30am and stepped outside only to find clouds and only one star faintly visible. Another attempt at two hours later yielded the same poor sky. The scheduled 2nd night watch was aborted. The rest of Friday hours were spent exploring the beach and the surrounding areas. We took the 4:30pm ferry home and looking for the weekend rest. |
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| ( Above) A swift dim Perseid was caught passing zipping past Aries. Aug 13 am 14:20 (SGP time) Mintron+25mm lens. Note the few 'pathetic stars' visible. | |||
| Here are some snapshots - a) my under utilised gears, b) a butterfly that ignored my approaching lens, c) setting sun with high shutter speed, d) orange-red fruits of screw-pines, e) palms-lined walkway, f) a fallen flower that looked like a candle holder complete with 'wick', g) rocks, h) our new PM signature i) and islet viewed from the Kelong's Jetty | |||
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