(meteorobs) Visual and Video Quadrantids from Tucson

[chergen]

First off, thanks Bill, for the words of support.

My SALSA camera which is part of Sirko's MetRec-based program was
running all night. It is a PC164CEX-2 with a 4/1.2 lens. 107 meteors
were detected including at least 73 Quadrantids. It is likely that a
few Quadrantids were id'd as Sporadics due to poor positions.

A movie of the 107 meteors from last night is posted on my blog at 

http://transientsky.wordpress.com

Visually I was able to get in a little under 2 hours of observing. 82
Quadrantids were picked up in 1h 50m. From the moment I got settled in
around 11:30 UT it was obvious that the Quadrantids were going strong.
8 meteors in 7 minutes is a good start under a +5.5 magnitude sky. 

The best rates seem to occur around 13:20 UT after I decided to stop
counting (figures...). It was mid-twilight and a quick look around the
sky saw almost a dozen meteors within a few minutes. 4 were seen in
under a minute.

The Quadrantids seemed to be dominated by fainter members early in my
observing session. As the session progressed, brighter objects became
more prelavent.

Also of interest is something related to a note in Wesley Stone's
report to the Quadrantids live page. He mentioned a number of faint
fast meteors radiating from the south. I also noticed quite a few of
these meteors. The most interesting thing about them was they all left
short lasting trails even though they were all faint (mag 3-4).
Unfortunately I wasn't plotting so I couldn't determine a common radiant.

My video camera did pick up a few meteors that may have been related.
Three meteors may share a common radiant near RA = 155, Dec = -15. But
with only 3 possible members you have to doubt the reality of this
radiant. Any one else detect elevated activity from just south of
Virgo last night?

- Carl