(meteorobs) Observation December 12/13 2004

[Pierre Martin]

Part I of my trip to Virginia...


Hi all,

Due to widespread poor weather conditions all around eastern Ontario, 
the only hope for me to see any Geminids this year was to travel south 
to get into a position of clearer skies, thanks to a cold front that 
was slowly building along the east coast.  The weather models were 
consistently showing central to eastern Virginia as the closest spot I 
would need to go to improve my odds of getting clear skies... at over 
1100km driving distance.  At this point, I started making contact with 
the Richmond Astronomical Society (RAS) in Virginia to seek out a dark 
sky site.  RAS members were very kind and helpful in quickly providing 
me with detailed information.  About a day before, I checked the 
weather again, then I decided to pack my stuff and go for it!!!  LET’S 
GO!!!

I left Ottawa and got the show on the road at 3am on Sunday morning Dec 
12.  After an uneventful 13-14 hours drive (stopping only for quick 
breaks including Krispy Kremes), I made it to Powhatan Wildlife 
Management Area (located just west of Richmond, Virginia) at sunset 
Sunday evening.  The directions I got from RAS members were very clear 
as I had no problem quickly finding the site.  The site serves as a 
parking area near a small lake.  The horizons are quite decent all 
around.  As it was getting dark fast, I wasted no time setting up my 
tent.  I came ready for a two nights stay.  Out in the distance, I 
could hear several owls hooting.

For the Sunday night Dec 12/13, I didn’t hold much hope.  The evening 
was solidly overcast, and there was no sign of any starlight poking 
through at all.  I was also tired from the long drive, so I knew that I 
would probably be in no condition to observe for an extended amount of 
time no matter what the sky did.  I decided to slip into my tent, and 
set my alarm clock to wake me up every 2 hours just in case.

By 4am, I was almost ready to give up checking as the sky was obviously 
not willing to cooperate.  At one point, a light rain shower fell.  
But, as I looked out my tent for one more peek, I saw stars... a 
clearing sky!!!  Almost instantly, a Geminid plunged into the horizon.  
Then another one...  With a feeling of hope, I jumped out the tent and 
scrambled to setup for a meteor watch.  Every time I glanced up, the 
sky looked better and better.  It was a strange sight to see Orion 
setting into the West.  I initiated a casual watch for about 15 minutes 
as I waited for the last remaining clouds to go away.  The activity 
seemed tremendous with several periods of a meteor coming every 10 to 
20 seconds, with some simultaneous sightings.

I signed on at 4:50am EST, facing West toward the lowering Geminid 
radiant.  The limiting magnitude reached 6.45 before it got affected by 
morning twilight.  Over the course of a little more than an hour until 
dawn, I recorded 104 meteors (including 84 Geminids).  The majority of 
Geminids were in the mag +3 to +4 range, with a few bright ones thrown 
in.  The bright ones were often nicely colored with shades of blues and 
yellows.

The most spectacular meteor was a short mag -4 Geminid fireball low in 
the North, that exploded with a sharp terminal flash.

The morning was capped with a wonderfully bright ISS pass.

Stay tune for part II of my trip to Virginia...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: December 12/13 2004
BEGIN: 0950 UT (0450 EST)  END: 1105 UT (0605 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -78.00 West; Lat: 37.54 North  Elevation: NA
City & State: Richmond, Virginia, USA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock / tape recorder  / cord align
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_________________________________radiant position
		XOR (Chi Orionids)_____________________0620 +23
		MON (Monocerotids)_____________________0648 +08
		GEM (Geminids)_________________________0720 +33
		HYD (Sigma Hydrids)____________________0832 +02
		COM (Coma Berenicids)__________________1124 +27
		SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____GEM_XOR_MON_HYD_COM_SPO

0950-1105__0747+33__1.25__6.33___84___2___1___3___6___8

The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken down as 
close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal Time. The 
second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I centered my 
field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents effective observing 
time (corrected for breaks or any time I did not spent looking at the 
sky).  The next column (LM) is the average naked eye limiting 
magnitude, determined by triangle star counts. All following columns 
indicate the number of meteors for each shower observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
_______-4__-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

GEM_____1___0___1___2___5___5___15__20__26__9_____+2.81
COM_____0___0___0___0___0___0___3___0___1___2_____+3.33
HYD_____0___0___0___0___0___1___1___0___0___1_____+2.66
XOR_____0___0___0___0___0___0___1___1___0___0_____+2.50
MON_____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00
SPO_____0___0___0___0___0___1___2___4___1___0_____+2.62

Note: Magnitude scale is to determine the brightness of sky objects. 
Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with the 
planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius, magnitude +2 
to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6 to +7 are the 
faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark conditions. A 
meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a fireball.  The above 
table contains the magnitudes from all observed meteors, and the 
average (last column) for showers.

------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV): None

------------------------

Dead time: None

Breaks (UT): None

-------------------------