(meteorobs) Desert Geminid sparks overwhelming 12-13-2004

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Hola List,
 
Need to share this...please kindly quietly delete if you are not interested  
in a meteoric experience that lifted me into the constellations last night in  
the most soothingly contradictory manner.  
 
I was in the desert due west 100 kilometers from Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico  
last night with the two loves of my life (one who is starting to hobble around 
 and the other which I like to hobble around), and had some terrible luck.   
It was an expedition to study some interesting geology of the area and give 
the  city girls some fresh air, and we found a very spiny site and walked in 4  
kilometers off an almost impassable dirt road.  Embarrassingly I have been  so 
busy lately it didn't even occur to me about the Geminids although the prior  
night while enjoying Comet Machholz I saw an average of 1 meteor each 4 
minutes  (15 per hour), around 11 PM - the prior remarkable night, but I'd not seen 
 anything whatsoever yet.
 
Got caught in the desert at the far end when the Sun fell and I had to  
navigate along arroyos with Mom in toe who couldn't even see me right in front  of 
her and I came out a human pincushion with two knuckles inoperable and  
swollen now and all kinds of needle picked spines.  Dumb move but the scene  was so 
pretty you had to feel it to understand.
 
Got back to the VW Bug and was afraid to get near it as a dim white light  
was emanating where only the little red dot for the alarm should show.   Well, a 
half hour later we snuck up to see thew lights were left on and the  battery 
dead and not a sole around for many kilometers, not to mention work  plans for 
everyone.  Managed to push the car 200 meters, and being totally  exhausted 
since push starting strangely is disabled with the car security chip,  then got 
to an outcropping through the raod and couldn't do it.  Left the  very 
frightened girls in the car locked in and started walking sore, defeated  and scared 
of the unknown (not the animals...the people)
 
...Started walking.  It turned out to be 15 kilometers down the road  and 
then arroyos with towering mud banks casting eerie shadows everywhere and  
contorted, dried mesquites reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings.  This was  worse 
than being stuck on a rock in a hard place:)  It was 9:30 PM.   The starlight in 
total absense of lunar reflections was incredible, as the sky  looked like 
tapioca pudding and the Milky Way like a smeared Orion nebula from a  Palomar 
foto.  I could see by this light much better than being closer to  urban areas.  
The fear which welled up in my stomach and played upon my  spine as I 
continued I thought would be my very unwelcomed companion.  
 
Then something happened.  Totally absorbed in my present situation the  
awesome serenity of the glreaming sky and and distorted howls of wild animals in  
the distance started to relax me as I diverted all energy into making haste,  
impervious to the new razor sharp spines that infrequently crossed my path,  
ducking through occasional dark arroyo tunnels without knowing what was on the  
other end.  Maybe the fear and need balanced and I was plain numb.  I  cannot 
describe the uplifting feeling of seeing my friends the Geminids - plenty  as 
bright as Sirius and a few 10 times (linearly) brighter dazzeled my poor soul  
in that desert.  First one, then another then another, then two  
coincidentally...then three at the same time...repeating every minute...and  often every 
thirty seconds.  I walked on and on and on and it was simply a  surreal dream 
and perhaps I shouldn't bore you further but get on a couch and  see and kind 
shrink.  The uplifting feeling that was inspired inside of me  left me so 
overwhelmed, any foolish fears or other earthly foolishness, were  totally replaced 
by such celestially magnificent emotions and sights  that by the time I 
reached a ranch house that had a truck at 2 AM and over  15 kilometers (10 miles) 
away I truly was in an ethereal trance and I assure you  I hadn't ingested 
anything at all.  The radiant was directly at the zenith  and many a fireball 
seemed to be truly sparks and trains of falling stars  continuousily around me.  
Even fear was gone as my omnicience told me the  girls were cared for and I 
need to see the shrink for sure since I was  noteably saddened in a strange way 
that I had arrived at the lonely ranchhouse  and wasn't shot on site, since 
rousing the frightened residents took them by  surprise.
 
The desert meanwile became frigid for the fair ladies and first at hand was  
a bonfire which destroyed the superb night vision but hardly seemed to affect  
the strengthening show.  We got out and even coming home throught the  
highways in spite of the headlights vertical bright falls were seen every  minute.
 
Statistically it wasn't an observation night, but I did have several hours  
to contemplate after the cold sweat was replaced by the warmth of meteor  
observations, like sparkling friends overpowering the desert and taming it for  
what truly has been the great show on earth I have ever witnessed first  hand.  
Every 15 seconds from 12-2:30 I could count on a dazzling meteor,  then every 
two to three minutes a triple meteor coincident show defined as  within about 2 
seconds.  And there were at least three times when my  confused and hasty 
walking saw four coincident meteors.  That is 300 per  hour for two to three 
hours, and 150-200/hour leading up...
 
Maybe now you can understand why not once did I have a moment to take my  
binoculars out of my knapsack to look at Comet Machholz which was faintly  
visible to my unaided and somewhat nearsighted eyes.  We got home at  Sunrise and 
the starting of the car is a story best left out except for  mentioning it was 
complicated but finally successful and the girls were fast  asleep most of the 
time in their slumberthinking I had something to do with the  heavenly show 
since I'm the one always talking about meteors...  And a blue  teardrop 6-8 
second fireball with no persistent train at minus 4 to minus 5  magnitude under 
those conditions fit right in and wasn't the highlight of the  observing night 
by a longshot...
 
Saludos, Doug
N 25.7 Deg  W 100.2 Deg
NE Mexico