(meteorobs) Geminids from Southeastern France

[Karl Antier]

Hi dear meteor observers !

Here is an informative note on what I could observe from
Southeastern France (Provence), on the two Geminid pre- and
post-peak nights. For technical reasons (problemes with the
watch and the red lamp), I was unable to make precise counts
of the observations, unfortunately...

The pre-peak nights was very clear from there, with lm close
to +6.5, and I was happily surprised by a nice display of
Geminids 15 hours before the predicted maximum. According
to me, and without precise counting, rates were probably
higher than 100-120 Geminids/hour ! The "bad" thing is that
they were all very faint (magnitude above +3 for most of them),
and really short-pathed. Nearly none of them let a persistant
train, and non was a real highlight. But activity was really 
significant !
The next night, as the radiant rised at 17h UT, so at a very
close time from the expected peak maximum, I hoped to observe
nice Geminid earthgrazers around that time. Unfortunately, 
there was none observed. Only three "classical" Geminid showed
up in 15 minutes after the radiant rised... A bit disappointed.
Several hours later, they catch up with the missed dawn display :
the activity was again very high, maybe bigger than the preceeding
night, and meteors were really brighter : here, meteors with
magnitude below +3 were highly present! Some of them even let
persistant trains, which hadn't been observed on the other night.

This was really a nice shower! 
Hope to see the Quadrantids, now, and maybe throw an eye on the 
Ursid! And hope temperatures will be higher at that time!

Clear skies to all !
Karl