(meteorobs) October 23, 2004 Meteor Observations from California

[Robert Lunsford]

Robin Gray and I observed for another five hours from the Trona Pinnacles
National Monument. This was our last morning out together from this site for
the Orionids. The moon was shining brightly low in the west as we began our
session. It set near 2:00am (09:00 UT). I suspect there were also periods
when clouds were present as LM counts in some areas were considerablely
lower than others. This may also be the reason for the dip in rates during
the forth hour.

72 Orionids were counted during the five hours. 24 of them occurred during
the middle hour 3-4am PDT. I shifted around to face due south and this
appearently helped with the antihelion (Taurid) counts as they were more
active than the previous session. No Epsilon Geminids and only one Leo
Minorids were seen. The southern apex in Canis Major was much more
active than its northern counterpart. Lastly, the sporadic rates were much
closer to what I expected when compared to the previous session.

October  23, 2004

0800-0900 UT  1.00  6.25   2 ANT   8 ORI  0 EGE  0 LMI
                                             0 NPX   0 SPX  6 SPO  16 TOTAL

0900-1000 UT  1.00  6.37   3 ANT   8 ORI  0 EGE  0 LMI
                                             1 NPX   0 SPX  9 SPO  21 TOTAL

1000-1100 UT  1.00  6.25   4 ANT   24 ORI  0 EGE  0 LMI
                                             0 NPX   1 SPX  15 SPO  44 TOTAL

1100-1200 UT  1.00  6.22   3 ANT   14 ORI  0 EGE  1 LMI
                                             1 NPX   2 SPX  10 SPO  31 TOTAL

1200-1300 UT  1.00  6.20    1 ANT   18  ORI  0 EGE  0 LMI
                                             0 NPX   3 SPX  16 SPO  38 TOTAL

TOTALS:          5.00  6.26   13 ANT   72  ORI  0 EGE  1 LMI
                                             2 NPX   6 SPX  56 SPO
                                             150 TOTAL

The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
particular hour actually spent observing the sky. The third column gives
the average limiting magnitude estimated during each period. The last
several columns list the activity seen during each period. I was facing
south at an altitude of 50 degrees during the entire session. No
breaks were taken.  ANT = Antihelion radiant, ORI = Orionids,
EGE = Epsilon Geminids, LMI = Leo Minorids, NPX = Northern
Apex, SPX =  Southern Apex and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Trona Pinnacles 117 22" 32" W  35 06' 03" N

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class II (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 50 F (10 C) 64%
Ending              "               "             "        38 F (3 C) 92%

MAGNITUDES:

ANT:  0 (0)  +1 (2) +2 (5) +3 (2) +4 (4) +5 (0) +6 (0)   AVE: +2.62
ORI : -2 (0) -1 (2) 0  (2) +1 (7) +2 (22) +3 (20)            AVE: +2.64
          +4 (14) +5 (5) +6 (0)
LMI:  0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +4.00
NPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.00
SPX:  0 (0)  +1 (1) +2 (3) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)   AVE: +2.33
SPO:  0 (2) +1 (5) +2 (15) +3 (14) +4 (17) +5 (3)        AVE: +2.86

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA