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

[Mike Hankey]

Its good to see Maryland well represented on the list. I too was
caught under the cloud cover that dominated most of the east coast. I
slept in 1 hour increments last night setting the iphone alarm hourly,
waking up, looking out the window to check the clouds and then going
back to sleep. Around 4:00 AM there was a small break in the clouds so
I setup my camera on the tripod, programmed 100x2 minute exposures and
then went to bed for the night.

I found one faint meteor that barely sneaked past the clouds.

Zoom/crop:
http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/geminid-shower-20091214-zoom.jpg

Full Image:
http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/geminid-shower-20091214.jpg

I think this is a Geminid (but not 100% sure just yet), the camera was
facing due west at 4:00 AM. Orion is/was right in the middle of the
shot.

Thanks,

Mike

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 2:53 PM, Richard Taibi <rjtaibi at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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