(meteorobs) Orionids great in far west Texas

[Thomas Dorman]

Hi.All
Set up after local midnight until 12:30 UT watching
the Orionids.Things stated off slow but slowly built
until a hell of a show started around 10:30 UT and was
still going until the last hand full of stars were in
the sky around 12:30UT just before sunrise.I was out
just trying to video an Orionid crossing over the
Orion Nebula.At times I had two Orionids at a time
coming in nearly side by side,many with great
trains.Most Orionid durations were in the 1 to 1.5
second range with train duration about the same.Most
Orionids were white but there was a few that were blue
and blue-white.What the rate was an hour I could not
say but it had to be well over the predicted average
for this shower.The coolest  meteor shower I have
observed since Leonids storm a few years back.One
other note is that I go a distinct impression that I
was watching two radiant that was active.The strong
radiant was the traditional Orionid radiant but
another weak one seem to be just to the  east
south-east of Betelgeuse maybe about five degrees.What
every was going on with the Orionids it was worth stay
up all night for.Also had a lot of dim Orionids that
look to be no more than a point source terminal
flash.Had clear sky with a limiting magnitude of
around +5.8.As I said was not out count meteors this
morning just trying to capture a few Orionids on
video.Wow!What a gas!
Regards
Thomas Dorman
Horzion City,Texas
N31*39.763'
W106*10.690'