(meteorobs) Oct 23/24 2011 Orionid obs from N FLA - still going strong!

[Paul Jones]

Greetings again meteor folks,
      I managed to get out for yet another productive two hour Orionid watch
from my rooftop in St. Augustine this morning.  To my pleasant surprise, I
found the amazing 2011 Orionids still going strong and only slightly weaker
than the previous morning.
     All told in the same two hour time frame once again (4:15 - 6:15 a.m.
EDT), I had 81 total meteors with 53 of those being Orionids.  Still no
elusive Orionid fireball has shown up, even with all this brisk activity,
but that is not unusual.  Orionid fireballs are devilishly hard to come by!
     This morning's Orionids were perhaps a tad brighter on the average than
the two previous mornings and train percentage was high also, around 40%.  I
noticed a bit more color in this morning's Orionids also, mainly varying
shades of yellow.  The brightest Orionids I saw were zero magnitude, nothing
in the negative magnitudes.
     I had a couple of really pretty Taurids, too.  They were all long
pathed and a couple were first magnitude and showed an orangey tint to
them.  I saw only one Leo Minorid this morning but it was a lovely golden
first magnitude with a nice train.  I am impessed indeed with this minor
radaint as well!  The epsilon Geminids also were still present, but weakly.
    Here is the quick data from this morning:

Oct. 23/24, 2011 Location:  5 miles SW of St. Augustine, Florida

0815 - 0915 UT (0415 - 0515 EDT)  L. M. 6.5, F - 1.0 Facing South
21 Orionids
3 Taurids
1 epsilon Geminid
11 sporadics
36 total meteors

0915 - 1015 UT (0515 - 0615 EDT)  L. M. 6.5 F - 1.0 Facing South
32 Orionids
3 Taurids
1 Leo Minorid
9 sporadics
45 total meteors

This morning's watch will end my 2011 Orionid observing and I must say it
has been a joy to behold!  A couple of thoughts on this shower:  I
think some folks may be getting out too early in the evening for them,
seeing little to no activity and may be giving up before the good stuff
starts!
The Orionids are a very challenging shower to observe, top notch sky
conditions are a must.  Also, I have noticed over the years that the
Orionids do not seem to really get very active until at least 0400 local.
Sometimes, it takes even to 0500 local for the shower to kick in.  This
combined with the fact that most Orionids are faint and short-pathed, it is
really to understand why some folks get weak results.  They are, in my
opinion, the most challenging major shower to observe.  Patience is
essential for them!
Now my task is to compile all my data and report it to IMO, then back to
Meteorobs.

Clear skies all, Paul
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