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

[George Gliba]

Nice report from southern Maryland Rich!  I tried again from our cabin 
in Mathias,
West Virginia on Sunday morning.  I had a brief sucker hole around 1:00 
- 1:10 am
EST, with 30% obstruction and LM=6.0, but saw 0 Geminids.  It was still 
nice briefly
seeing the Winter Milky Way, but I was somewhat surprised that the 
Geminids appeared
to be virtually over by then.  Although I got only one good hour in at 
the Greenbelt City
Observatory for the maximum, I feel lucky to have seen them.  My best 
meteor shower
this year for numbers seen was the Perseids (ZHR=~90), but for bright 
colorful meteors
the Geminids are the winners for the years' best meteor shower.

P.S.  For those interested i wrote a nice eulogy to the late Sir Patrick 
Moore at:

http://gewa.gsfc.nasa.gov/clubs/astronomy/Nebula/nebula.htm

Starry Skies,
GWG



On 12/15/12 12:21 PM, Richard Taibi wrote:
> 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.   +4
> SPO : 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, +4
> December Leonis Minorids: -1
> SPO: total= 10,   -5 (2), +1, +2 (4), +3 (2), +5
> Total= 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), +4
> Total = 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
>
>
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