(meteorobs) URSIDS 12/22/04 UT from southern Maryland

David Stine david at exposquare.com
Wed Dec 22 16:58:48 EST 2004


While setting up to observe Comet Machholz Monday night, a nice 0 mg.
Ursid came straight from the north straight over me and between the
Comet and Rigel.  Last night I had cloudy and snowy skies so I didn't
get to see any more Ursids this year.  Look forward to the Quadrantids.

David Stine
Tulsa, OK USA

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Richard Taibi
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 3:49 PM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Cc: mcbal.gwyvre at virgin.net
Subject: (meteorobs) URSIDS 12/22/04 UT from southern Maryland

Hi to all,

Variable cloudiness all night, 12/21-22, made the probability of seeing
any 
meteors look very poor.  Unexpectedly, the sky went all clear at 430 am
EST 
(930 UT 12/22).  I was able to get to my light polluted McKendree site
at 
10:22 UT for a half-hour observation until 10:52 UT.  At that point the
dawn 
was approaching and even more of problem were two Anne Arundel County 
(Maryland) Police officers who came to investigate a citizen's report of

suspicious activity.  Yes, it was me.  No, I wasn't arrested, but one
cop 
thought it was hilarious that a man would get out of a warm bed to lie
in a 
sleeping bag at 0 degrees Celsius and watch stars FOR NO PAYMENT!!  
Someone's tax dollars at work!

I estimate only getting 20 decent, uninterrupted minutes of observation
out 
of 30.  But, in that 20 minutes, I saw a -2 and two, +2 Ursids!  With
the 
advantage of this late posting and seeing Wes Stone's and Robin Gray's 
western US results, I think that the Ursids had a good showing this
year.  
In past mediocre years, I only see 1-3 Ursids in one or two hours.  This
is 
another demonstration that the shower deserves watching yearly at least 
until perihelion passage of Comet Tuttle in 2008.

My details:

Observer: TAIRI

Date: December 22, 2004 UT  Time: 10:22-10:52 UT  Lm=5.2  F=1.25
Teff=0.33  
Field ctr=UMa

Site: McKendree, MD, USA

URS: -2, +2, +2

Best wishes,  Rich


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