(meteorobs) BRIGHT Geminids last night (Dec 14/15)

[Koen Miskotte]

Hi Pierre,
The same goes voor me! In search of clear weather we decided to take a plane 
(!) to Portugal. There we could observe during three clear nights! I was 
with my friends Carl Johannink, Michel Vandeputte, Simon Vanderkerken & 
Inneke Vanderkerken. The location was 30 km east of Evora (~8 degr, east, 
38,5 North).
12/13-12
Only Michel coulds observe this night.

13/14-12.
We had an 8 hour session (21:30-06:30 UT) with many, many Geminids. 
Limithing magnitudes up to 6.7. I think I did see 800-900 meteors, but I 
still had no time to listen to my recordings. No really bright fireballs 
seen.

14/15-12
A really great night! During the period 21:00-05:00 UT we had good Geminid 
activity under bright skie's (Lm 6,6 -6.7). The first hours we had normal 
activity, but after 00:30 meteors became brighter and brighter. As a team we 
did see 14 (yes, fourteen) Geminid fireballs between magnitude -4 and -8! I 
never seen so much Geminid fireballs in one night as this year. Geminid 
activity was declining at the end of the night.
Both nights I operated my Canon EOS 40D with a Canon EF 2.8/15 mm fish eye 
lens. During a short look I saw 20 bright Geminids (amongst them 2 
fireballs) so a closer inspection of the 1200 images (!) will reveal more 
meteors.
More results later!
Best wishes,
Koen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pierre Martin" <dob14.5 at sympatico.ca>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 10:59 PM
Subject: (meteorobs) BRIGHT Geminids last night (Dec 14/15)


> Hello all,
>
> Had a very successful session for the post-max Geminids, observing
> several hours under clear dark skies!  Had the pleasure to have Todd
> Week's company on this cold night.
>
> I was rewarded with a terrific number of bright Geminids!  Even a
> dazzling long path fireball that reached mag -5 and fragmented
> several times into tiny pieces along its path!  A number of meteors
> photographed too.  The tug-of-war between the rising radiant and the
> Earth exiting the stream caused a steady, moderate level shower for
> the first few hours.  The rates finally plunged rather drastically
> late at night, making it appear like there was not much left.
>
> Stay tune for full report...
>
> Pierre Martin
> Ottawa, Ontario
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