(meteorobs) December 14 (UT) meteors from southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

Geminid season this year was truly remarkable.  The usual mid December weather in Maryland is either a) cloudy with rain/sleet/snow or b) clear with a windchill of 10 degrees Fahrenheit/ -12 Celsius.  This year the sky was transparent, cloudless and with no wind!  Even the 30 mile/ 50 km. drive to Bel Alton was eventful: I saw 6 bright meteors, one a fireball, on the way down (a 50 minute drive).  The fireballs continued when I drove home too: two more ended just above the northeast horizon.  I agree with what many of you have said; at maximum, the Geminids are my favorite.  It seems remarkable that they were not a fixture of our skies before about 1862; we are fortunate to have their orbit intersect earth's while we're able to enjoy them. Below, I have cast the morning's data into three periods.  For all of them, there were no clouds, a limiting magnitude of +5.3 and a temperature of about 30F/ -1 C with a heavy frost by 4 a.m EST/ 9h UT.  Observation was from longitude 77 W, and 38 and 1/2 N at Bel Alton, MD. Period I   0630-0725 UT  Field center was between s. Gemini and M44/  Cancer. GEM: total=39.  -6, -4 (2), -3 (3), -2 (6), -1 (2), 0 (3), +1 (4), + 2 (7), +3 (8), +4 (3)MON: total=1.   +4SPO : total=6      -2, 0, +2, +3 (2), +5 Total = 46 Period II: 0725-0823 UT  Field center south of  M44/ Cancer GEM: total=27,  -4, -2, -1, 0, +1 (4), +2 (6), +3 (7), +4 (4), +5 (2)NTA: total= 3,    -3, +3, +4December Leonis Minorids: -1SPO: total= 10,   -5 (2), +1, +2 (4), +3 (2), +5Total= 41 Period III: 0827-0942 UT  Field center between Cancer and Sickle of Leo GEM: total=32,  -3, -2 (4), -1 (5), 0 (2), +1 (4), +2 (4), +3 (3), +4 (7), +5 (2)SPO:  total= 6,   -2, +1, +2, +3 (2), +4Total = 38 Grand total= 46+41+38= 125 meteors in 3.13 hours; average rate of 40 meteors per hour.  The activity helped chase the chill. Best wishes, Rich
 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.meteorobs.org/pipermail/meteorobs/attachments/20121215/5c8ccd6e/attachment.html