(meteorobs) Meteors 9 Oct 2010 UT from southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

The meteor rate was very quiet during my observation, but some of this was no doubt due to ground fog that formed in the second period this morning.  I was dismayed at how quiet (how few) the STAs were given their activity one week ago.  But, I guess like other observers, I hope for some dramatic showing each time I go out.  It's not always going to happen!  The most dramatic meteor was likely an earthgrazer seen at 7:17 UT.  It raced northward inside and parallel to the eastern 'side' of Orion (the north-south side containing Betelgeuse).  It shot northward to a point just east of Beta Aurigae: a flight of about 40 degrees!  The  radiant of this -1 magnitude meteor was likely somewhere in Columba which was low in the southeast.
 
9 October 2010, 4:23 UT to 7:55 UT/ 12:23 to 3:55 AM EDT.
Bel Alton, MD, USA; 76d, 59m, 00s west Longitude; 38d, 28m, 00s north Latitude; ~10 meters elevation.
 
S. Taurid (STA), Orionids (ORI), sporadics
 
4:23 - 5:53 UT; Lm= 5.7, Teff=1.33 hrs, F=1.00, Field Center, mid-session= 37d RA, +15d Dec.
 
STA: +2
ORI: +3
SPO: 0, +2 (2: one of which was a slow, orange, long-path disintegrating meteor), +4   Total=4
 
Break: 5:53- 6:04 UT
 
6:04 - 7:55 UT; Lm=5.15, Teff= 1.72, F= 1.00, field center, mid session= 52d RA, +10 Dec.
 
STA: none
ORI: +4
SPO: -1, +3 (2), +4, Total=4.  One of the 3rd magnitude and the 4th magnitude meteor were very fast with paths that began in Perseus.  They probably had a radiant in Camelopardalis or near the north celestial pole.
 
Dead time in each period was due to time lost to plotting meteors: nine of the eleven seen were plotted.  When I packed up and turned the car's headlights on, I saw the thick ground fog that had developed during the morning session.