(meteorobs) November 18, 2004 Meteor Observations from California

[Robert Lunsford]

I observed for four hours this morning from the Alpine Viewpoint. The sky
appeared hazy yet I was able to achieve better limiting magnitudes than the
previous night. The humidity was only slightly higher than yesterday. The
wind was blowing which could have caused the hazy appearance. Activity was
dreadful the first hour. It took nearly one half hour to record my first
meteor. After that the activity was impressive until 5:00am PST. I should
have stopped then as twilight was just beginning to show and I saw little
afterwards. I counted a total of 26 Leonids this morning. 14 were recorded
between 3:30am and 4:30am PST. A great majority of the Leonids were of the
2nd and 3rd magnitudes. The brightest was -4. Seven anthelions (Taurids)
were seen along with two Alpha Monocerotids and an impressive Zeta Puppid,
that shot to the east of Canis Major. That was about the most special meteor
of the session. There were a couple of very long Taurids that were also
impressive.

November  18, 2004

0930-1030 UT  1.00  6.42   0 AMO  3 ANT  1 LEO  0 NPX
                                             1 SPX  4 SPO   9  TOTAL

1030-1130 UT  1.00  6.31   2 AMO  2 ANT  8 LEO  1 ZPU
                                            0 NPX  1 SPX  14 SPO  28  TOTAL

1130-1230 UT  1.00  6.26   0 AMO  1 ANT  14 LEO  1 NPX
                                             0 SPX   9 SPO   25 TOTAL

1230-1330 UT  1.00  5.83   0 AMO  1 ANT  3 LEO  0 NPX
                                             0 SPX   4 SPO   8 TOTAL

TOTALS:          2.83  6.02   2 AMO  7 ANT  26 LEO  1 ZPU
                                            1 NPX  2 SPX   31 SPO  70 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
east at an altitude of 50 degrees during the entire session. No breaks
were taken.  AMO = Alpha Monocerotids. ANT = Antihelion radiant
 (Taurids), LEO = Leonids, ZPU = Zeta Puppids, NPX = Northern
 Apex, SPX =  Southern Apex and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Alpine Viewpoint 116 40' W  32 50' N,  Elevation = 850m

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class 4: Rural / Suburban Transition

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 48 F (9 C) 67%
Ending              "               "             "        48 F (9 C) 67%
                                                             Not a typo!!!

MAGNITUDES:

AMO:  0 (0)  +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (0)  AVE: +3.50
ANT :  0 (0)  +1 (2) +2 (2) +3 (3) +4 (0) +5 (0)  AVE: +2.14
LEO:  -4 (1)  -2 (2)  -1 (0)  0 (4) +1 (2) +2 (6)
          +3 (10) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)                      AVE: +1.54
ZPU: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0)      AVE: +3.00
NPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0)     AVE: +3.00
SPX:  0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (2) +5 (0)     AVE: +4.00
SPO:  -1 (1)  0 (1) +1 (3) +2 (5) +3 (10)
          +4 (5) +5 (6)                                           AVE: +2.97

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA