(meteorobs) Meteor Observations from Southern California, September 1, 2006

[Robert Lunsford]

Hazy skies over San Diego prompted me to drive 50 miles eastward to view
the Alpha Aurigids under dark skies. Upon arriving at the mountain site 
there
were scatter altocumulus in the west but the eastern half of the sky was 
clear
and very dark. The light dome in the west was bad, illuminating the clouds 
in
that region of the sky. I have seen many darker nights up here but the sky
still looked impressive to me. I was fairly rested with short naps during 
the
afternoon and late evening. I would have been more rested except for the
fact I spent an hour after sunset viewing the conjunction of the moon and
Antares. Activity the first hour was impressive with many fine sporadic
meteors and a couple of antihelions tossed in. The AUR radiant was 40
degrees high yet only 3 AUR's were seen. I was hoping the AUR activity
would increase but it actually decreased as the morning progressed. 11
meteors were seen each of the next two hours with only 3 of these being
AUR's. I decided to view an extra 30 minutes and stop at the start of
civil twilight. Only 3 more meteors were seen in the brightening skies.

I videotaped the entire session and no doubt the camera will produce
much more activity. It will be interesting to see a breakdown of this
activity. The highlight of the night was a slow moving zero magnitude
sporadic that shot downward low in the north, disappearing just  over
the northern horizon.

Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 06-Sep-1 Mean Solar Long: 158.766
Begin Time (UT) 858 End Time (UT) 1228

LOCATION: Pine Valley Viewpoint, CA, USA
LONG: 116 29' 43" W LAT: 32 49' 49" N
Elevation: 760 m   Bortle Scale: Class 3 (Rural Sky)
METHOD: Visual/Video
Showers Observed

ANT  23:24 (351) -03,    2-0-0-0        2 Total
AUR  05:36 (084) +42,   3-2-1-1        7 Total
SPO                              11-9-10-2    32 Total
Hourly Counts              16-11-11-3    41 Total
---------------------------
Period 1  0858-0958 UT
Weather: 63F (17C) 44% Humidity
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.72
FOV 045d +25   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 158.720

Meteor Data:
2 ANT
3 AUR
11 SPO
16 TOTAL

Magnitude Distribution
ANT  +2 (1) +5 (1) Mean +3.50
AUR  +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (1) Mean +4.00
SPO  0 (1) +1 (2), +2 (2), +3 (2), +4 (3), +5 (0) +6 (1)  Mean + 2.73
Meteors Observed: 16

----------------------------
Period 2   0958-1058 UT
Weather: 64F (18C) 40% Humidity
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.65
FOV 060d +25  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 158.760

Meteor Data:

2 AUR
9 SPO
11 TOTAL

Magnitude Distribution
AUR  +2 (1) +3 (1) Mean +2.50
SPO  +1 (1), +2 (4), +3 (3), +4 (0), +5 (1) Mean + 2.56
Meteors Observed: 11
---------------------------
Period 3  1058-1158 UT
Weather: 65F (18C) 37% Humidity
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.69
FOV 075d +25   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 158.801

Meteor Data:

1 AUR
10 SPO
11 TOTAL

Magnitude Distribution
AUR  +2 (1) Mean +2.00
SPO  0 (1) ,+1 (2), +2 (3), +3 (0), +4 (2), +5 (2) Mean + 2.60
Meteors Observed: 11
---------------------------------------
Period 4   1158-1228 UT
Weather: 64F (17C) 36% Humidity
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.35
FOV 080d +25   TOTAL TeFF: 0.50
Mean Solar Long: 158.835

Meteor Data:

1 AUR
2 SPO
3 TOTAL

Magnitude Distribution
AUR  +2 (1) Mean +2.00
SPO  +2 (2) Mean + 2.00
Meteors Observed: 3
-----------------------------

Total Magnitude Distribution
ANT  +2 (1) +5 (1) Mean +3.50
AUR +2 (3), +3 (2), +4 (1), +5 (1)  Mean +2.60
SPO   0 (2), +1 (5), +2 (11), +3 (5), +4 (5), +5 (3), +6 (1)  Mean + 2.59