(meteorobs) Aurigids from New Mexico

[meteoreye at comcast.net]

It sure would be nice if these AA's (Anecdotal Amateurs) would be encouraged to record their observations to IMO standards to their data would be useful for scientific analysis, instead of just being anecdotal reports.

It's a terrible waste of good hours spent under the sky.

A good starting place is the NAMN.

Wayne
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Skywayinc at aol.com 

> Here is a report that I received from an amateur watching 
> for the Aurigids from New Mexico. -- joe rao 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------- 
> Joe: 
> The Aurigids did come through this morning, and the show 
> was quite a bit better than the '07 Perseids. I gambled on an early 
> peak- not wanting to travel west-, and in fact, it came quite a 
> bit earlier than suggested in your Sky and Tel article. 
> Between 4:21 AM and 5:36 AM- bright dawn- I observed 30 Aurigids. 
> But there's a catch- let me explain: 
> I observed from the Volcanos, some 15 miles west of downtown 
> Albuquerque, and 5 miles north of I-25. I had excellent skies- the 
> Milky Way from Cassiopeia to Auriga was faintly visible, and I 
> could clearly make out the Little Dipper. I'm guessing the zenith 
> star- as best defined tonight- was 5.5. 
> I began a watch at 4:21 AM MDT. At 4:36 AM there were two 
> quick Aurigids, similar to what I observed back in mid 90's. 
> By 4:50 AM activity really picked up. It was obvious an outburst 
> was underway. The Aurigids I saw were a mix of fireballs- and faint 
> specimens (unlike the previous time a saw a few of these meteors, where 
> there were only fireballs). Two magn. minus 3 Aurigids- almost 
> simultaneous- 
> were one of the highlights of the show. 
> Between 4:21 AM and 5:17 AM MDT I counted 29 Aurigids. By 5:10 AM 
> it was pretty obvious the outburst was winding down (one gets a feel 
> for these things). I would guess the peak occurred between 4:50 AM and 
> 5:05 AM 
> (10:50 to 11:05 UT). This turned out to be perfectly suited for 
> Albuquerque. 
> At 5:17 AM twilight was apparent, but not a problem. Now I logged 
> Aurigid #29 of the night. However, I continued my watch. 
> The next Aurigid- at 5:36 AM, in bright twilight- really floored me! 
> It 
> was a huge fireball of magnitude -6 or -7, easily casting shadows. It 
> streaked almost directly overhead of me, heading south, ending near the 
> Moon. 
> It left a train for maybe 15 seconds. This (Capella) Aurigid showed 
> flares, and bursts, 
> which were preserved in the train. 
> Aurigids are very swift, very light yellow meteors, ephemerally 
> trianed. Perhaps 
> they resemble October Orionids most closely, but are brighter. Some 
> of the brighter Aurigid fireballs showed delicate green tints. There were 
> no "red" or 
> purple fireballs such as what I observed with the 1993 Perseids. But 
> color is subjective. 
> Thus, between 4:36 AM and 5:17 AM MDT Sept. 1st 2007 I observed 29 
> Aurigids. 
> One highly curious aspect of the shower which became immediatley 
> noticed was the highly diffuse radiant. Anywhere around, and inside the 
> Winter Pentagon could have been a radiant. However, 3 radiants 
> seemed definable: 
> 1. The Capella radiant 
> 2. The beta Auriga radiant 
> 3. The beta Tauri (El Nath) radiant 
> However one bright Aurigid say 15 degrees below the Pentagon 
> would have passed directly through the center of the Pentagon as it 
> moved directly downward. 
> That a large diffuse radiant existed was definititly- DEFINITELY 
> the case- I wasn't making this up. I actually began to describe 
> Aurigids as "Capella Aurigids," or beta Tauri Aurigids," or radiant 
> uncertain if the meteor passed through two of the aforementioned stars. 
> This shower's radiant was as diffuse- or likely more diffuse 
> than the Quadrantids. I've been observing meteors since 1969, and 
> have a pretty good feel for when I'm seeing a diffuse radiant. 
> This is interesting because a very sharply peaked meteor 
> shower would be expected to emmanate from a very small, tight radiant. 
> Anyway, 
> 
> Kevin McKeown, Albuquerque, New Mexico 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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