(meteorobs) Oct. 21st Visual Observations from Southern California

Tue Oct 21 22:49:30 EDT 2008

I drove to the Alpine Viewpoint for my first session since the Perseid
maximum. The sky was 100% clear all the way to the coast which allowed some
light pollution in the west. The Milky Way was still visible from Cygnus
right into Auriga, but then lost in the lunar glare. I started at midnight
local daylight time and faced SSW. After two hours the moon began to creep
over the truck so I moved my center of view a bit more to the southwest. The
moon was at the edge of my field by the last hour but it did not matter as I
could not stay awake. I ran the intensified video camera simultaneously but
lost the last two hours of data, most likely by hitting the play button
instead of record. These stupid things can happen when your are sleep
deprived.

The Orionids were fairly constant all night. As always there were periods of
no activity then three within a few seconds. My brightest were a pair
of -4's. The first was much more impressive as it was intensely orange,
occurred high in the sky, and left a nice train. The other was low, short
and ended with a terminal burst. It seemed that all Orionids brighter than
magnitude +2 left a persistent train. About half of the second magnitude
ones did plus one or two of the third magnitude Orionids. It was not a bad
show considering the moonlight.

Video data from this session will be posted ASAP.
---------------------------------------------------

Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 08-Oct-21 Mean Solar Long: 208.297
Beginning Time (UT) 0700
Ending Time (UT) 1300
Total TeFF: 5.25
52% Illuminated Moon

LOCATION: Alpine Viewpoint, CA, USA
LONG: 116 39' 40" W LAT: 32 50' 13" N
Elevation: 630 m
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 61F (16C) - 54%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 61F (13C) - 53%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape/Video Recording
--------------------------
Showers Observed
EGE 07:00 (105) +27    01-00-01-01-00-01     4   Total
LMI 10:36 (159) +39    00-00-00-01-00-00     1   Total
ORI 06:20 (095) +16    13-15-17-20-17-04    86   Total
STA 02:44 (041) +12    01-00-00-00-01-00     2   Total
SPO                              02-03-04-05-07-01    22   Total

Hourly Counts               17-18-22-27-25-06   115 Total

---------------------------
Period 1   0700-0800 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.32
FOV 015 -10  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 208.144

Meteor Data:
EGE  1,  LMI  0,  ORI  13,  STA 1,   SPO  2,  TOTAL 17

Magnitude Distribution
EGE +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
ORI  0 (1)  +2 (7)  +3 (2)  +4 (3)  Mean +2.46
STA +3 (1)  Mean +3.00
SPO +4 (2)  Mean + 4.00

----------------------------
Period 2   0800-0900UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)  Mean LM 6.29
FOV 030 -10  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 208.185

Meteor Data:
EGE  0,  LMI  0,  ORI  15,  STA 0,   SPO  3,  TOTAL 18

Magnitude Distribution
ORI  -4 (1)  -3 (1)  +1 (3)  +2 (2)  +3 (7)  +4 (1)  Mean +1.39
SPO +4 (1)  +5 (2) Mean +4.67

----------------------------
Period 3   0900-1000 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.23
FOV 030 +00  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 208.227

Meteor Data:
EGE  1,  LMI  0,  ORI  17,  STA 0,   SPO  4,  TOTAL 22

Magnitude Distribution
EGE +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
ORI  -4 (1)  0 (1)  +1 (1)  +2 (8)  +3 (2)  +4 (3)  +5 (1)
                                                            Mean +2.12
SPO +3 (1) +4 (2) +5 (1)  Mean +4.00

----------------------------
Period 4   1000-1100 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.13
FOV 045 +00  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 208.268

Meteor Data:
EGE  1,  LMI  1,  ORI  20,  STA 0,   SPO  5,  TOTAL 27

Magnitude Distribution
EGE 0 (1)  Mean 0.00
LMI +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
ORI  0 (2)  +1 (3)  +2 (9)  +3 (3)  +4 (3)  Mean +2.10
SPO +3 (3) +4 (2)   Mean +3.40

----------------------------
Period 5   1100-1200 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.11
FOV 060 +00  TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 208.309

Meteor Data:
EGE  0,  LMI  0,  ORI  17,  STA 1,   SPO  7,  TOTAL 25

Magnitude Distribution
ORI  -2 (1)  -1 (2)  0 (1)  +1 (2)  +2 (4)  +3 (6)  +4 (1)  Mean +1.65
STA +3 (1)    Mean +3.00
SPO +2 (1)  +3 (2)  +4 (2)  +5 (2)  Mean +2.86

----------------------------
Period 6   1200-1300 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.07
FOV 075 +00  TOTAL TeFF: 0.25
Mean Solar Long: 208.351

Meteor Data:
EGE  1,  LMI  0,  ORI  4,  STA 0,   SPO  1,  TOTAL 6

Magnitude Distribution
EGE +2 (1)    Mean +2.00
ORI  -1 (1)  +3 (3)  Mean +2.00
SPO +3  (1)  Mean +3.00
--------------------------------------

Total Magnitude Distribution
EGE 0 (1)  +2 (3)  Mean +1.50
LMI +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
ORI  -4 (2)  -3 (1)  -2 (2)  -1 (3)   0 (5)  +1 (6)
        +2 (35)  +3 (18)  +4 (13)  +5 (1)  Mean +1.97
STA +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
SPO +3 (1) +4 (2) +5 (1)  Mean +4.00

Bob Lunsford