(meteorobs) Spectacular QUA's from Virginia!

[Kristi Wenger]

I'm fairly new at this, so I'm hoping it's kosher to e-mail my data to this list!

The meteorobs e-mails have confirmed what I thought – that I was out at the perfect time for the Quads!  Spectacular!  From the “Oooos” and “Aaaahs” of the three others with me this morning, followed by my, “Dangit! I missed it!”,  I know my count is even lower than the actual numbers that there were!  I quickly ditched the pen and paper and kept track of the QUAs on my fingers, making mental note of any really bright ones.  Anything that wasn’t a QUA or obvious COM got listed as a SPO, even though I have a hunch one was an ANT and two were AHYs.  There were probably several SPOs that I’ve listed as QUAs, but it was too close for this amateur astronomer to tell the difference.  Things were just happening all too fast to be able to pay much attention to any single meteor!  

One of the two most spectacular events for me was a fairly dim meteor that streaked clear across the sky, coming from the general direction of the ANT radiant.  The other event was a double QUA that streaked out from the radiant at about a 70 degree angle from each other.

Perched on top of a huge naked hill, out in the darkness of Swoope, Virginia – we had a fabulous time!  Daylight began to invade the sky during the last few minutes of my observation, but I got in a fairly descent hour of data collection in, as follows:

Observer:  Kristi Wenger
Date:  January 3, 2009
Time:  05:30-06:35 (LST), 09:30-10:35 (UT)
Teff: 1.00 hr
LM: 5.16-5.49 (this may even be low)
F = 1.00
Location: Swoope, VA, 79.1* W, +38.1* N
Comments: Beautifully clear skies!!

Fireball: 9:21 UT

QUA: 150 (5 of which were notably bright)
COM: 5
SPO: 4
Total: 159

Incredible display!  I was hoping to see 60 or so,  but I never imagined seeing 159 in an hour!!

Lovin’ it,
Kristi Wenger
Swoope, Virginia