(meteorobs) Observation December 14/15 2006

Pierre Martin dob14.5 at sympatico.ca
Tue Dec 26 20:08:09 EST 2006


The following night at Fall Creek Falls state park was again crystal  
clear!  I was still tired from staying up all night on the previous  
night, so my plan was to observe for just a few hours.  I have never  
been lucky enough to see the post-maximum Geminids, so I was looking  
forward to this night.

After an early evening nap, I woke up at 9pm and got ready to head to  
the observing field.  Stuart, the park ranger, came by and told me he  
was surprised that I wasn't yet at the observing field.  He said he  
was there for a while and enjoyed a number of very bright Geminids.   
In his own words: "there aren't as many as last night but the ones I  
saw look just like roman candles going off".  This was not  
unexpected, since the Geminids are known to be brighter after the  
maximum.

When I arrived at the field, Stuart was there and enjoying the skies  
with his binoculars.  The skies were impressive... about mag 6.5 at  
the zenith with very good transparency.  We spent a while chatting  
and sharing many interesting views of the brighter Messier objects.   
I was surprised at the sharpness of his binoculars.  During this  
time, I casually saw a good handful of brilliant Geminids!  One of  
them was a spectacular yellow Geminid of mag -3 that travelled  
horizontally about 30 degrees until it gradually faded out behind  
trees.  A few moments later, I saw a mag -2 Geminid quickly followed  
by a mag -1 in the same area of the sky.  I intentionally took my  
time before signing-on for meteors and setting up the cameras so that  
the radiant would come up higher.  This would prove to be a mistake  
however...  The Geminids did not increase much as the radiant  
climbed.  The bright meteors were still present but became less  
frequent as the night went on.  The shower was just about on the way  
out.

In nearly 3 hours teff (between 11:45pm and 3:00am local time), I  
recorded 68 meteors.  The breakdown is 44 Geminids, 4 Monocerotids, 2  
Sigma Hydrids, 1 antihelion and 17 sporadics.

The nicest meteor was a mag -2 Geminid at 2:56am.  It had a strong  
yellow-green hue.

I packed all my stuff the next day and left for the long trip back  
home.  The drive was pleasant.  There was not a single cloud in the  
sky until I reached upstate New York.

I certainly enjoyed the experience of catching the Geminids under  
clear dark skies.  The friendly staff at Fall Creek Falls State Park  
were very receptive.

I'm not so sure I'll want to go that far for the Geminids every year  
though...  It's one heck of a long drive!!

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: December 14/15 2006
BEGIN: 0545 UT (2345 CST)  END: 0900 UT (0300 CST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -85.371 West; Lat: 35.655 North  Elevation: 1800 ft
City & Province: Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee, USA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting & cord align
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:________________________________________radiant  
position
		ANT (Antihelions)________________________06:32 +23
		MON (Monocerotids)_______________________06:56 +08
             	GEM (Geminids)___________________________07:28 +33
		PUP (Puppid-Velids)______________________08:32 -45
		HYD (Sigma Hydrids)______________________08:40 +01
		SPO (sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)__FIELD_____Teff____LM____SPO___GEM__ANT__MON__HYD__PUP

0545-0648___0705+00___1.00___6.45____4_____18___0____2____0____0
0648-0810___0705+00___1.00___6.45____10____13___1____1____2____0
0810-0900___0705+00___0.76___6.43____3_____13___0____1____0____0

TOTALS:_______________2.76___________17____44___1____4____2____0  = 68

Note: The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken  
down as close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal  
Time. The second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I  
centered my field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents  
effective observing time (corrected for breaks or any time I did not  
spent looking at the sky).  The next column (LM) is the average naked  
eye limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star counts. All  
following columns indicate the number of meteors for each shower  
observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
______-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

GEM____1___2___3___7___9__13___5___4_____+2.27
MON____0___0___0___0___1___1___2___0_____+3.25
ANT____0___1___0___0___0___0___0___0_____-1.00
HYD____0___0___0___1___0___1___0___0_____+2.00
SPO____0___0___1___0___3___2___9___2_____+3.41

Note: Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with  
the planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius,  
magnitude +2 to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6  
to +7 are the faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark  
conditions. A meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a  
fireball. The above table contains the magnitudes from all observed  
meteors, and the average (last column) for showers.
------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV) (UT): None

------------------------

Dead time: 28.83 min (breaks)

Breaks (UT): 5:57-6:00, 6:35(20sec), 7:11-30, 8:03-06, 8:33(30sec),  
8:38-41




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