(meteorobs) Telescopic Orionids

[Michael Linnolt]

Well, I havent been very active in meteorobs recently, and I regret that. Have been fully occupied by projects, such as building a 20" reflector from scratch.

Last weekend, around the Orionids max, I was observing some variable stars with my 8" reflector. I use a wideangle eyepiece giving 35x with a 2 deg field for finding objects. While star hopping, I TWICE had a telescopic Orionid race thru my field! Thats just within a matter of minutes. Quite a bit of luck! They were both around 6-8 mag, I would guess, and left wispy little trains for a few seconds. In several minutes of naked eye observing  I only saw one Orionid in the bright moonlight.

Hope to be back doing serious meteorobs eventually.

Clear skies!
Mike Linnolt
Woodside, CA