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

[tom6740]

It sounds interesting. When I went to Mt.Huo-lu to observe Perseids 
and Mars last year, three policemen came and asked what I was 
doing. "Observing Mars," I replied, then they looked through my 6" 
refractor and said, "...great!". I enjoyed that night very much, 
hahaha. 

--- In meteorobs at yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Wilson" <meteorrr at w...> 
wrote:
> 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 h...>
> To: <meteorobs at m...>
> Cc: <mcbal.gwyvre at v...>
> 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
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Mailing list meteorobs
> > meteorobs at m...
> > http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs
> 
> ---
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