(meteorobs) Obs: 13/14 December 2006

[pmartsching at mchsi.com]

14 December 2006 03:45 - 08:15 UT (CST 13/14 Dec 2006 09:45pm - 02:15am)

Paul Martsching
Truman State Park near Warsaw, Benton Co, Missouri
Long: 93 deg 07 min W  Lat: 38 deg   Elevation: 855 feet
Method: Visual; paper, pencil and talking clock
Temperature: 50 degrees at 03:45; 40 degrees at 08:15
Wind: calm at 03:45; SW 3 mph at 04:45; SW 5 mph at 05:45; SW 10 mph 07:15

Several sources indicated that a long, NE - SW area of cloud would move thru
Iowa and northern Missouri this night.  Dave Oesper and I thought that if we
went far enough South we would be beyond the SW end of this area of cloud.  When
we arrived in the Warsaw area in the evening the local forecasts for the night
indicated "clear".  As it turned out the NE - SW area of cloud actually extended
several hundred miles farther SW than predicted and we eventually got clouded
out.  If we'd gone to SE Missouri we might have gained an hour more of clear sky.

Summaries:

03:45-04:45; clear; limiting magnitude 6.2; facing East 45 degrees; Total teff
1.0 hour
Antihelion: none
Geminid: -5, -3(2), -2(3), -1, 0 (5), +1(4), +2(9), +3(8), +4(4), +5(2)
Monocerotid: none
Sporadic: +3(2), +4(3)
Total meteors: forty-four

04:45-05:45; clear; limiting magnitude 6.1; facing East 45 degrees; Total teff
1.0 hour
Antihelion: +1
Coma Berenicid: +2, +3
Geminid: -3(2),-2(2), -1(2), 0(4), +1(4), +2(10), +3(5), +4(3)
Monocerotid: none
Sporadic: +3(2), +4
Total meteors: thirty-eight

05:45-06:45; clear - but some thin cloud moving in last 15 minutes; limiting
magnitude 5.9; facing East 45 degrees; Total teff 1.0 hour
Antihelion: none
Coma Berenicid: none
Geminid: -4, -2(2), -1(6), 0(8), +1(6), +2(8), +3(10), +4(3), +5(2)
Monocerotid: none
Sigma Hydrid: none
Sporadic: -2, 0, +3(2)
Total meteors: fifty

The last three half hours summarized separately; limiting magnitude a "best
guess"; probably of little scientific value, but shows that the shower was doing
well inspite of increasingly bad conditions.  Except at the very end, most of
the cloud was thin enough that mag. +3 stars could be seen, even when cloud
cover was more than 75%. Usually mag. +2 stars could be seen thru even the
densest patches of cloud; always at least some small areas with lim. mag. of ~+5.0
 
06:45-07:15; facing SE 45 degrees; average limiting magnitude 4.0; Total teff
0.5 hour
Antihelion: -5
Coma Berenicid: none
Geminid: -5, -4, -1(4), 0(3), +1(3), +2, +3
Monocerotid: none
Sigma Hydrid: none
Sporadic: none
Total meteors: fifteen

07:15-07:45; facing SE 45 degrees; average limiting magnitude 3.5; Total teff
0.5 hour
Antihelion: none
Coma Berenicid: none
Geminid: -4, -3, -2(3), -1(3), 0(2), +1(3), +2
Monocerotid: none
Sigma Hydrid: none
Sporadic: none
Total meteors: fourteen

07:45-08:15; facing S 45 degrees; average limiting magnitude 2.7; Total teff 0.5
hour
Antihelion: none
Coma Berenicid: +3
Geminid: -3(2), -2, -1(4), 0(5), +1(3), +2(2)
Monocerotid: none
Sigma Hydrid: none
Sporadic: +3, +2
Total meteors: twenty

Quit because much denser cloud cover moving in from the West.  It was
disappointing to get clouded out at this point, but if we'd stayed in Iowa we
would have seen little or nothing.