(meteorobs) Lovely, lovely Geminids from the Everglades [GRALE 2005 Dec 12/13 Summary]

[Lew Gramer]

Last night, three of us got to enjoy the pre-max night of the Geminids from 
Everglades National Park, 15 miles west of Homestead FL. The moon bathed 
Pa-hay-okee Trail  parking lot all night, but we set up our lawn chairs in 
the shade of a handy mahogany tree, and when the breeze occasionally, died I 
could fan away the few mosquitos with a gentle waft of the clipboard.

Needless to say, the night was beautiful... We observed Geminids and a few 
Sporadics from about 9:45pm until 1:10am, and could have kept going if it 
weren't for that pesky distraction - work the next morning. Also, we are 
hoping for clear skies again TONIGHT - the peak night for the shower!

If anyone in the area is interested in joining us, please contact me: the 
Geminids are the "old reliable" of meteor showers; and even with bright moon 
light, they put on a very enjoyable show as night progresses into morning.

Clear skies, and I hope to get to meet SOME OF YOU in the Glades tonight!
Lew


PS: Here is a summary of what I logged last night:
======================================================================

NAMN Meteor Summary: 2005 Dec 12/13
Observer: GRALE (Lew Gramer)
Location: Pa-hay-okee Lookout, Everglades National Park, FL USA
Coordinates: 25o22.5'N, 80o45.0'W, 1m elev

TENTATIVE SUMMARY (Subject to final revision):

UT Period   FOV    Teff  F   LM   GEM XOR MON PUP HYD SPO
02:45-03:55 060+10 1.00  1.0 5.7   12  1   0   0   /    4
03:56-04:58 080+10 1.00  1.0 6.2   18  1   2   1   0    4
04:59-06:10 105+05 0.82  1.1 6.1   22  0   0   0   2    5
                                                                       
Total/Average:     2.82  1.0 6.0   42  2   2   1   2   13

Total Meteors: 62
Dead time / meteor: 5 sec
Total Break Time: 31 min

Magnitude Distribution:
[To follow]

Train Data:
[To follow]

Remarks:
Fellow observers were Mike Smith and Jim Rose (non-recording).
LMs were fairly variable due to intermittent cirrus all session.
Owls, crickets, frogs and many nocturnal water birds complemented the
 night's enjoyment, and temps varied from 62oF to about 55oF.
Meteor highlight of the night for me was a -2 Geminid with a 0.5
 second persistent train, seen below 10 degrees elevation in Caelum
 03:07 UT. Another highlight were two SIMULTANEOUS Geminids seen
 at 05:58 UT, both magnitude 2, in CMi and Leo respectively!

======================================================================