(meteorobs) 2011 Orionid obs from north Florida

[Paul Jones]

Greetings again all,
     Well, I did follow through on my promise to get out to observe the
Orionids this morning, but faltered on the two hour stint I had hoped to
do.  I could only manage 1 1/4 hours before succumbing to fatigue and the
damp, wet cold.  The Orionids didn't do a lot to help me stay out, either.
They were a bit on the disappointing side this morning.  Had they been
better, I could have hung in there.
To summarize briefly, between 4:00 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. local time, I had 17
Orionids, 1 epsilon Geminid, 4 Taurids and 10 sporadics for a total of 32
meteors all together.  The skies were excellent, noticably darker than
yesterday morning.  Limiting Magnitude was 6.0, so I can't blame poor,
moonlit skies for not doing as well as I had hoped to on the Orionids.
Indeed, I was surprised to see the difference a 35% sunlit moon made over
the 46% sunlit moon of the previous morning.  One of these days I may have
to admit to myself some of my diappointing results could be that my eyesight
just plain ain't what it used to be 35 years ago...;o)
The first twenty minutes of the session were good, as I had 9 of the 17
Orionids and the one epsilon Geminid between 4:00 and 4:20.  After that,
however, the Orionids seemed to slow way down, instead of picking up as I
had hoped.  I could only get 8 more in the subsequent 55 minutes!  Most were
faint, but a lovely +1 with a train, shot through Orion's belt towards the
end of the session.  That one was the only real highlight.
Full data will follow later, as I intend to try again for the next couple of
mornings, at least.  Maybe things will look up...;o).

Clear skies, Paul in north Florida
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