(meteorobs) Orionid Obs. Oct. 18th, Mathias, WVa

[George Gliba]

         Screech Owl Hill Observatory, Mountain Meadows
            Mathias, West Virginia 385710N 0785544W
                    October 18th - 20th, 2010

We had good conditions on the morning of October 18th for the
pre-maximum Orionids. I may have seen a pre-maximum mini outburst
of Orionid meteors.  After moonset, I observed the Orionids from
7:02 to 8:02 UT and saw 17 Orionids. The sky was clear, with some
haze, and a limiting magnitude of about 6.2 or so. The next hour,
from 8:02 to 9:02 UT, the Orionid rate was back down to 7 per hour
with the same conditions. Below is s short breakdown of the meteor
activity seen.

    Date    Time (UT)  LM  Obst. NTA STA SSA ZTA ORI EGE OCU LMI SPO
10/18/10  7:02-8:02  6.2   0%    1   3   0   0  17   1   1   2  10
10/18/10  8:02-9:02  6.2   0%    0   3   1   0   7   2   1   1   6

Magnitude Distributions
     -3  -2  -1   0   1   2   3   4   5  total Ave.
NTA  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   0    1   4.0
STA  0   0   1   0   2   1   2   0   0    6   1.5
SSA  0   0   0   0   0   0   1   0   0    1   3.0
ZTA  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0    0   N/A
ORI  1   1   1   1   2   1   7   6   4   24   2.7
EGE  0   0   0   1   0   1   1   0   0    3   1.7
OCU  0   0   0   0   0   1   1   0   0    2   2.5
LMI  0   0   0   0   0   0   2   1   0    3   3.3
SPO  0   0   0   1   1   7   4   1   2   16   2.6

A popular article, with more detailed observations, including comet
Hartley 2 and Nature experiences is online at:

http://gac.gsfc.nasa.gov/Nebula/oct2010.htm

Clear Skies,
GWG