(meteorobs) October 21, 2006 Meteor Observations from Southern California

[Robert Lunsford]

During our second day in the Mojave Desert, Robin Gray and I spent several
hours viewing objects through my telescope during the daylight hours. Near
noon we viewed Mercury, Venus (very close to the sun!), Jupiter, Dubhe
(Alpha Ursae Majoris), and Arcturus. Approximately one hour before sunset we
viewed Mercury, Jupiter, Arcturus, Antares, Vega, Deneb, Altair, Graffias
(Beta Scorpii), Izar (Epsilon Bootis), Ras Algethi (Alpha Herculis), and
Albireo (Beta Cygni). It was interesting to view double stars in daylight.
Once the sun set we spent way too long viewing deep sky objects plus
comet Swan.

Once again we only obtained about three hours sleep during the evening hours
and both of us pooped out after about four hours of observing. It's a real
shame as the Orionid activity was incredible, even surpassing the strong
rates seen back in 1974. I still managed to count 205 Orionids during 5.00
of effective observing time. There were many simulteasous Orionids plus
numerous bright fireballs. The brightest being a -8. The brightest fireballs
left persistent trains lasting a full minute and more. Nearly every one of
the negative magnitude Orionids possessed a persistent train.  My highest
Orionid count occured between 3 and 4am when 58 were seen. Those rates are
even good for the Perseids and Geminids! If I saw 268 meteors I am confident
the video camera picked up nearly 500! The only colors noticed in brighter
meteors were yellow and orange.

We picked a great shower for a desert expedition and the weather cooperated
nicely. Not a cloud was to be seen the entire night. It's was just a darn
shame there were not more hours in the day so we could observe plus get a
full nights sleep.
-------------------------------------------------------

Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 06-Oct-21 Mean Solar Long: 207.776
Beginning Time (UT) 0700 Ending Time (UT) 1300
Total TeFF: 5.00

LOCATION: Field Road, CA, USA
LONG: 116 33' 06" W LAT: 35 01' 49" N
Elevation: 630 m   Bortle Scale: Class 3: Rural Sky
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 58-54%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 52-58%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape/Video Recording
--------------------------
Showers Observed
EGE  07:00 (105) +27    00-03-00-01-00-00     4 Total
LMI  10:36 (159) +39    00-00-00-00-00-02     2 Total
NTA 02:36 (039) +18    01-00-01-00-00-00     2 Total
ORI  06:20 (095) +16    18-40-36-58-23-30  205 Total
STA  02:40 (040) +12    01-03-02-00-00-00     6 Total
SPO                               07-05-09-07-09-12   49 Total
Hourly Counts                27-51-48-66-32-44  268 Total
---------------------------
Period 1  0700-0800 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.62
FOV 045 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 207.664

Meteor Data:
NTA 1, ORI 18, STA 1, SPO 7, TOTAL 27

Magnitude Distribution
NTA +3 (1) Mean +3.00
ORI -6 (1) -2 (1) 0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (3) +4 (8) +5 (1) Mean +2.39
STA  0 (1) Mean 0.00
SPO +1 (1) +2(0) +3 (2) +4 (4)  Mean + 3.29
----------------------------
Period 2  0800-0900 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.64
FOV 060 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 207.706

Meteor Data:

EGE 3, ORI 40, STA 3, SPO 5, TOTAL 51

Magnitude Distribution
EGE +2 (2) +3 (1) Mean +2.33
ORI  -2 (1) -1 (1) 0 (4) +1 (3) +2 (12) +3 (8) +4 (8) +5 (3)  Mean +2.78
STA  0 (1) +4 (1) +5 (1)  Mean + 3.00
SPO +3 (4) +4 (0) +5 (1)  Mean +3.40
----------------------------
Period 3  0900-1000 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.50
FOV 075 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 207.747

Meteor Data:
NTA 1, ORI 36, STA 2, SPO 9, TOTAL 48

Magnitude Distribution
NTA +4 (1)  Mean +4.00
ORI  -8 (1) -6 (1) -2 (2) -1 (3) 0 (4) +1 (3) +2 (6) +3 (11) +4 (4) +5 (1)
Mean +1.33
STA +3 (1) +4 (1) Mean + 3.50
SPO   0 (1) +2 (0), +3 (3) +4 (5) Mean + 3.22
----------------------------
Period 4  1000-1100 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.37
FOV 090 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 207.788

Meteor Data:
EGE 1, ORI 58, SPO 7, TOTAL 66

Magnitude Distribution
EGE  +5 (1) Mean +5.00
ORI  -4 (1) -3 (1) -1 (2) 0 (5) +1 (5) +2 (16) +3 (16) +4 (9) +5 (3)
Mean +2.19
SPO  +2 (3), +3 (2) +4 (2) Mean + 2.86
----------------------------
Period 5  1100-1200 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.37
FOV 105 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 0.50
Mean Solar Long: 207.830

Meteor Data:
ORI 23,  SPO 9, TOTAL 32

Magnitude Distribution
ORI  -7 (1) -3 (1) -1 (1) 0 (2) +1 (4) +2 (6) +3 (4) +4 (3) +5 (1)
Mean +1.48
SPO  +2 (1) +3 (4) +4 (4)  Mean + 3.33
----------------------------
Period 6  1200-1300 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.11
FOV 120 +10   TOTAL TeFF: 0.50
Mean Solar Long: 207.871

Meteor Data:
2 LMI, ORI 30, SPO 12, TOTAL 26

Magnitude Distribution
LMI  +2 (2) Mean +2.00
ORI  -5 (1) -3 (1) -2 (1) -1 (5) 0 (2) +1 (2) +2 (9) +3 (6) +4 (2) +5 (1)
Mean +1.20
SPO  +2 (3) +3 (5) +4 (2) +5 (2)  Mean + 3.25
-------------------------
Total Magnitude Distribution
EGE +2 (2) +3 (1) +5 (1)  Mean +2.67
ORI  -8 (1) -7 (1) -6 (2) -5 (1) -4 (1) -3 (3) -2 (5) -1 (12) 0 (18) +1 (18)
+2 (51) +3 (48) +4 (34) +5 (10) Mean +1.87
STA  0 (2) +3 (1) +4 (2) +5 (1)  Mean +2.67
SPO  0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (7) +3 (20) +4 (17) +5 (3)  Mean +3.22