(meteorobs) Geminid Observations from SW Florida USA - 12/13 and 13/14 December 2007

[FELIX A MARRTINEZ]

 Finally I am beginning to recover from my 2,306 mile journey to Florida
and back to Central Virginia!  Plus there were many taskings that I
needed to engage in here, prior to sending out this report.

Did manage one very good night of observations (12/13 Dec) with Norman
McLeod and some "glimpses" of Geminid max. night (13/14 Dec) with both
Norm and Lew, through the available "holes" in many clouds on that night.
 Meteor rate tables and data is as follows:

Date - 12/13 December 2007

Hours Observed - 0416 to 1046 UT

Location - Lehigh Acres (East of Ft. Myers, Florida)

Limiting Magnitude - 6.5 to 6.8

Conditions - Clear and Pleasant (Temps between 62 and 67 degrees F)

0416 - 0426 UT          3 Geminids
0426 - 0526                18 G                                          
                2 Spor                            LM 6.8; .9f
0526 - 0626                17 G                                          
                 3 Spor                            LM 6.7; .9f
0626 - 0726                20 G       2 Mono       2 Sig Hyd           2
Spor                            LM 6.7; .9f
0726 - 0826                19 G       1 S Tau             1 Dec Leo      
3 Spor                            LM 6.7; .9f
0826 - 0926                12 G                              1 Sig Hyd   
        3 Spor                            LM 6.7; .7f
0926 - 1026                 18 G                              1 Sig Hyd  
         1 Spor                            LM 6.5; .8f 
1026 - 1046                    4 G                                       
                    2 Spor

Total # of Meteors - 135 (111 Geminids) in about 6.5 hours of observing 
Mono - short for Monocerotids
Sig Hyd - short for Sigma Hydrids
S Tau - short for South Taurids
Dec Leo - short for December Leonid

Brightest Meteors seen:  Geminid -4 @ 0654 UT (Blue-Purple) and Geminid
-4 @ 0925 UT (Blue-Green); several -2 Geminids were observed!     


The following evening, we dealt with mostly cloudy conditions, almost all
night long and finally returned to Ft. Myers soon after 0845 UT.  Still
managed to observe 55 more meteors in a handful of "openings" in the
clouds.  A great big "thank you" to Robert Riefer and His Wife Lisa for
allowing us to utilize their nice big front yard to safely undertake
these observing sessions!!  It has become more of a challenge to find
safe places to spend the whole night meteor observing, that are also dark
enough to get worthwhile results.

General Observations and Summary:  It has become rather evident to Norm
and I (after more than four decades of data & observations) that the
Geminids are somewhat in decline.  The Geminids I would still rank ahead
of the Perseids and they continue to be my favorite Meteor Shower and are
worthy of attention and observations.  That being stated, this decline is
only detectable by "mere mortals" of normal perception that have observed
the Geminids over the course of many decades.  Those of extraordinary
perception do not seem to be as affected by the evident decline of this
meteor shower.   Additionally, those same individuals seem less affected
by the human factors that would most affect observations, such as aging
and fatigue.    Will gladly continue to observe the Geminids in future
years!


                                                                In
Astronomical Affinity - Felix A. Martinez       
          

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:49:41 -0500 Lew.Gramer at noaa.gov writes:
> Last Thursday evening, 13/14 Dec, I had the opportunity to try for 
> the Geminid
> peak with two of my oldest friends and observing companions from the 
> 1970s
> and early 1980s. I joined Norm McLeod and Felix Martinez at the 
> relatively dark
> rural property of another old South Florida friend. We were almost 
> completely
> clouded out, however, by the confluence of outflow from tropical 
> cyclone Olga,
> and a cold front trying to move into the Straits of Florida from the 
> north. These
> same influences also wiped out Norman and me on the post-max night, 
> Friday
> 14/15 Dec. However, on the peak night (13/14 Dec), I managed to 
> glean some
> 40 minutes of observations IMO-style: although Teff=0.67 hr is too 
> short a time
> to be useful for analysis, it gave me an impression of the shower - 
> with an LM
> of 7.2, I had 18 GEMs and 5 Sporadics. This is surprisingly light 
> for a Geminid
> max night under relatively dark skies. Did others also find the 
> mighty Gems to
> be weaker this year than in earlier years?
> 
> PS: We also narrowly missed observing with IMO worthy Geert 
> Barentsen: this
> internet friend from Belgium was in Florida for the launch of an ESA 
> payload at
> Kennedy Space Center. We planned to meet max night, but somehow 
> missed
> each other. Hope your travels in Florida were fruitful, Geert!
> 
> Clear skies all,
> Lew Gramer
> South Florida
> 
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