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

[Jeff Wilson]

Something very similar to that also happened to me Richard last year.  Mine
was a State Park Officer who chewed and spat tobacco and investigated the
inside of the van looking for who knows what.  I think he also was a little
puzzled by why some guy would be sitting out in the middle of nowhere (sort
of). He wanted to know if I had been drinking or not.  I told him I didn't
drink but I dont think he believed me.  I guess I should carry a scope
around with me just to make things more believable.

Jeff W.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Taibi" <rjtaibi at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Cc: <mcbal.gwyvre at virgin.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 4:48 PM
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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