(meteorobs) Geminid Obs. 12/14/09 - Greenbelt, MD

Richard Taibi rjtaibi at hotmail.com
Mon Dec 14 14:53:02 EST 2009


Like George, a fellow Marylander, I watched from home.  I live about 20 miles/ 30 km south of George. The air was saturated with water from a day of soaking rain.  The temperature was dropping towards freezing and that meant the fog would obscure the sky in a short time.  I chose to watch from home with 40% sky obstruction due to houses and trees, rather than risk a shortened session in my 'rural' site where cooler temps would mean an earlier fog-out.  Lm in Camp Springs, MD was +4.  During the 110 minute session (7:05-8:55 UT), I saw 30 Geminids, none of which was a fireball. The brightest was -2, and only one that bright. When the fog closed in at 8:55 UT, it was dense and ended the session.  It looks like fog was lighter further north, judging by George's notes.  I have posted my observation on the IMO site for anyone who would like to see details.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rich


 
> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:52:02 -0500
> From: gliba at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org; meteors at comcast.net
> Subject: (meteorobs) Geminid Obs. 12/14/09 - Greenbelt, MD
> 
> 
> Geminid Meteor Shower - Greenbelt, Maryland 390016N 0765233W
> December 13/14, 2009 - 08:13 to 09:13 UT
> 
> 
> I was only able to observe the Geminid max. locally for an hour, but I
> was lucky that it stayed mostly clear, because there was a light fog after
> 09:00 UT, reducing the average LM to around 5.0 magnitude. In that time, I
> was able to observe 29 Geminids with a 25% obstruction due to trees and
> a few clouds.
> 
> The best meteor of the session was the first one, which was a beautiful
> -3 Geminid with a blue-yellow-green color. There was also a few other minus
> magnitude Geminids, and the average Geminid was a bright 1.6 magnitude, but
> I am sure in a darker sky that there were many more faint ones visible. I
> also saw fairly good activity from the Sigma Hydrids. I looked for, but did
> not see any, December Leonis Minorids.
> 
> 
> Time (UT) LM %Obst. ANT MON GEM HYD COM DAD SPO Total Comments
> 08:13-09:13 5.0 25% 2 1 29 3 1 2 6 44 light fog
> 
> FOV=07.3 +38 Facing West 
> 
> 
> Magnitude Distributions (08:13-09:13 UT - LM=5.0, light fog)
> 
> -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 total Ave.
> ANT 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 2.5 
> MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4.0
> GEM 0 1 1 2 3 5 6 9 2 29 1.6
> HYD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 3.7
> COM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3.0
> DAD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3.5
> SPO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 3.7
> 
> Clear Skies,
> GWG
> 
> 
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