The structure of the Perseid radiants on August 12-13, 1985, according to observations in the Crimea. The total radiation area of the main radiant with an error zone is from 3 to 6°. The vast majority (about 80%) of the Perseid pathways intersect here. A-Perseids are active (about 9%).


The Big Dipper is unusual, its main stars in the bucket seem to be stars of almost zero magnitude! It took us a while to recognize them... The light of the stars is getting stronger by the minute, the sky is slowly darkening, and the Milky Way is beginning to sound powerfully in this stellar "choir". There are so many stars that it seems as if we are in space. Constellations in this stellar mess are difficult to recognize... Even the crescent Moon that appeared in the morning (it seems dazzling here) cannot detract from the brilliance of the Milky Way — it is so bright and wide. And all this heavenly symphony is complemented by a multitude of meteor flashes..."


What was the activity of the Perseids on the night of the expected maximum on August 11-12? The sky was still clear over the village of Dalnegorsk that night, and N. V. Knyazyuk counted meteors and determined their magnitudes. He obtained several values of zenith hour numbers (nh) for the period from 14 to 19 hours of universal time (from here on, we will indicate universal time everywhere), the average of which is 40. As is known, the magnitudes of ph strongly depend on the transparency of the atmosphere, which is characterized by the maximum magnitude of mum at the zenith, they can be compared only if they are brought to standard observational conditions. Recall that such conditions are considered to be when stars up to 6.5 m are visible in a clear sky at the zenith.


On the night of August 11-12, for Dalnegorsk, the TTC was close to 6.0 before 6 p.m. and 5.8 in the last morning interval. According to the rules of the European Federation of Meteoric Astronomers, we used correction (reduction) coefficients equal to 1.5 and 2.0. The average corrected hourly number (n'h) for this night turned out to be 59. In Slyudyanka, M. N. Bidnichenko determined n'h = 55 for a time interval of 19-20 hours under conditions close to standard conditions, which is close to the results obtained by N. V. Knyazyuk.


According to the meteor relay program, in the interval from 18 hours to 01 hours, n'h were determined by observations in the village of Novotroitskoye, Simferopol and on Mount Raven. The average values of the given hourly numbers per observer are close to the real ones and reflect the increased activity of the Perseids on the night before the maximum. The n'h value obtained in Mica serves as a reference value in a certain sense.


I would like to express my gratitude to all the active Perseid observers in 1985. However, it should be noted that the Crimean Meteor Station receives a lot of carelessly performed observations. The reason for this is the poor training of observers who cannot distinguish meteors from one stream from another. The lack of constant training is affecting. A common disadvantage is that most observers inaccurately estimate the maximum magnitude of stars visible at the zenith. And this, in the end, leads to large errors in determining the hour numbers, in the distribution of meteor showers by magnitude, etc. All these shortcomings sometimes negate the great work of observers, and its results almost completely lose their scientific value. Innovative apartment interior design solutions.