I did 2 nights of time lapse - but that big moon & eternal twilight was a pest - thankfully we are starting to get some full darks now ( yeay)

This was the strongest - some nice red to green on close inspection - Canon 5Dii Irix14mm ISO1000 f2.4 15s

Carse of Stirling (Scotland) just before 1am 13/08/25

I often see a bright object in the sky that appears for a few seconds. I even saw it with my own eyes right after sunset, when the sky was still light. It's clearly a spacecraft, as its movement can be seen on the camera for more than a minute. However, it seems that there is nothing artificial brighter than the ISS.

The star Dubhe of the Big Dipper has an apparent magnitude of +1.8, Venus has an apparent magnitude of -4.14max, the ISS has an apparent magnitude of -5,8max, and this one has an apparent magnitude of about -7. Is it possible that it is the BlueWalker?

Apparently, when this spacecraft is at a certain angle, it begins to reflect the maximum amount of sunlight.

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here's my footage from the night :) i got some cool ones i guess

Edited August 19Aug 19 by linkedwinters

On 8/17/2025 at 7:26 PM, Samrau said:

The star Dubhe of the Big Dipper has an apparent magnitude of +1.8, Venus has an apparent magnitude of -4.14max, the ISS has an apparent magnitude of -5,8max, and this one has an apparent magnitude of about -7. Is it possible that it is the BlueWalker?

Apparently, when this spacecraft is at a certain angle, it begins to reflect the maximum amount of sunlight.

Certainly could be that, have you checked https://www.heavens-above.com/ and put in your coordinates? It will tell you when it passes by you.

Sadly the amount of bright reflective objects in orbit is just going to increase. Greatly increase.

10 hours ago, linkedwinters said:

Upload Video Online - Free Video Hosting - Streamable

here's my footage from the night :) i got some cool ones i guess

I can't view it, as you seem to have sent a video editor link instead of a target link.

It was the most powerful Perseid 😅

26 minutes ago, Samrau said:

It was the most powerful Perseid 😅

Looks more like a comet 🙈😂

On 8/20/2025 at 11:09 AM, Samrau said:

I can't view it, as you seem to have sent a video editor link instead of a target link.

no wayy, hold on. Sorry!

Google Docs

test.mp4

try this! I'm never sure how else to upload videos onto these forums hahaha

On 8/20/2025 at 3:06 PM, Samrau said:

It was the most powerful Perseid 😅

Definitely not a Perseid. Look at the radiant location. It is flying towards it. What are the streamers? You caught a UFO :)

2 hours ago, JessicaF said:

Definitely not a Perseid. Look at the radiant location. It is flying towards it. What are the streamers? You caught a UFO :)

😄 It was a Soyuz rocket flight with the Bion-M spacecraft on board. This flight path is very rare, so it was a cool sight to see.

I also saw the Falcon 9 fly.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by Samrau

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/08/russia-bion-m/

Late for the party, but wanted to share one bright Perseid meteor I was able to capture from my window on August 13, 23:46 UT. I was actually quite impressed, as despite the 75-85% Moon, the observable rates were rather decent. On both nights (12./13. and 13./14.), some 16-19 meteors in frames during 2-3 hour sessions, and some 20-25 meteors with the naked eye from the city (Bortle 5 / 6).

Did y'all see this one?

1 hour ago, NightSky said:

Did y'all see this one?

Thanks for sharing! I love those green trails. Well done, too. Ephemeral fog above the lake. The meteors looked like in real. Very impressive.

He's got some great stuff on his youtube channel. The little lake / pond makes it even better when there's coll things going on in the skies 😄

It's official, the Perseids were disappointing.

Source: DUBUS 3/2025

Ahoi
Pom

Edited September 16Sep 16 by Pom

6 hours ago, Pom said:

It's official, the Perseids were disappointing.

Hmm, I'll have to spend some time later reviewing this to have a better handle on the numbers. That would be a pretty low number but not out of line in my opinion. Two things:

1. The numbers are IMO data and this is a directly link to it here. Do note this data is submitted by visual observers (I have submitted such observations there in the past myself). So even though they do make allowances for the moon being out it can and does skew the results. Another interesting point is that you can change the year on that web link above and look at the numbers going back a number of years.

2. I'd like to see the Global Meteor Network data to see what numbers they arrived at. That data would be from the 1000 station video camera network. It seems there is no longer a Perseids flux chart up, I'll have to ask where I can find it. At some point in the near future eMeteorNews may publish that information as an article.

Personally this does not surprise me. I have observed the Perseids when possible (clear skies and no moon) for many years and have felt it was weaker that it used to be in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A few others share this thought and in fact studies have been done to see if that is true. The last time I read such a study the conclusion was it was not weaker but given the peak ZHR numbers the past few years I find it increasingly hard to believe it is not weaker.

Edited September 16Sep 16 by astroHoward
fix usual typos