(meteorobs) Orionids Monday morning from Iowa

[pmartsching at mchsi.com]

I got up and looked out the window a saw several very small clouds.  I got ready and as I went out the door I saw more clouds.  I checked the infrared satellite and supposedly there should not have been any clouds within 35 miles!  (I have seen this kind of cloud before that is invisible in infrared.)  I went on out to see what would happen.  During the first hour lots of mostly smallish clouds with more or less thin haze here and there, sometimes pretty general and sometimes just in small patches or streaks.

The first hour is "unreportable" but gives some idea: 08:15 - 09:15 UT average LM ~5.0; average cloud cover 35 %; generally facing between Auriga and Gemini, but what ever area was clearest in the East; 63 deg; dew pt 50 deg F; wind S 12 mph; EGE: one: +3; NTA: one: +3; ORI: three: +1; +2; +3; Sporadics: one: +3; total meteors: six

The "clearest" hour: 09:15-10:15 UT average LM ~5.5; still problems with large patches and streaks of haze, but sometimes actually clear; 63 deg; f; dew pt 49 deg F; wind S 13 mph; facing East 50 deg.
LMI: two: : +1; +2
ORI: twelve: 0; +1(2); +2(4); +3(3); +4(2)
STA: one: +1
Sporadics: seven: -1; +1(2); +2; +3(3)
Total meteors: twenty-two

My own guesstimate is that the Orionids were about "normal" this year.

Paul Martsching