(meteorobs) Geminids this morning from Putnam Valley, NY

Skywayinc at aol.com Skywayinc at aol.com
Fri Dec 14 11:19:31 EST 2012


After a long day at the television station (and  promoting the Geminids on 
all seven of my weathercasts) I arrived home at 11:30  p.m. somewhat worn 
out; quite frankly I was ready to head straight for bed, but  the sky was 
clear and I already dragged out my long summer lounge chair from  earlier in the 
day, so I got myself prepared for viewing some "pre-Christmas  fireworks."
 
I watched from my deck . . . not really the best place  to observe because 
I was severely restricted to seeing only about 40% of  the sky.  I would see 
more from my front driveway, but it's Christmas time  and only at this time 
of the year, we have a set of lantern lights running down  the driveway to 
augment the rest of our holiday lighting display.   Most of the lights are 
on timers and shut off at around midnight.  But the  lanterns (6 of them)  
automatically turn on at dusk and turn off at  dawn. For most of the year, 
they're off because the bulbs are  unscrewed.  If I wanted to unscrew them last 
night, I'd have to get a  ladder (each is mounted on a 7-foot pole) and 
that's something I did not care to  do in the middle of a cold December night.  
By observing from the deck, my  house blocked out most of the light 
emanating from the lanterns . . . though the  trade off was being able to see less 
of the sky.
 
I signed on at 12:40 a.m. EST and stayed out until  1:30 a.m. In my coat 
pocket I had a counter; each time I saw a meteor,  I would click the counter.  
When I went inside to warm up, I saw that  I had clicked off 26.  After 
having a cup of hot tea I headed out  again at 1:45 a.m. and remained until 
2:25 a.m.  I called it a night at  that point, in part because I was starting 
to nod off and also because my winter  coat had developed a very fine layer 
of frost!  It was 26F and there was  not a breath of wind.  Skies were mainly 
clear, although occasionally a few  patchy/streaky cirrus clouds would 
glide on by, chiefly from my north and  west.  Limiting magnitude was around +5 
and transparency was rated as  good-to-excellent.  The Beehive cluster for 
instance, stood out like the  proverbial soar thumb. 
 
Upon heading back inside, I saw that I had counted off  another 14, making 
a total of 40 for 90 minutes of observing.  
 
Of the 40, 39 were Geminids.  One was a slow  sporadic that cut across Lynx 
and headed toward the  Geminid radiant.  
 
As for the "Gems" they were all typical for this shower  . . . moving with 
roughly half the speed of a Leonid or Perseid; at a more  "leisurely" pace.  
The majority were between 2nd and 3rd magnitude.  I  did see three Geminids 
that could be categorized as fireballs . . . all three  appeared pure 
silvery white, rivaled Jupiter in brightness (probably around  magnitude -3) and 
left smoky vapor trains lasting about 3 or 4 seconds. Those  three, in fact, 
were the only ones to leave any kind of persistent trail or  train.  
 
And I noticed the "clumping effect."  There were  times when I'd see 
nothing for five or six minutes and at other times I'd two or  three in quick 
succession.  In fact . . . on my second outing, I had just  gone through a 
particularly long lull period and was ready to call it quits at 2  a.m. Suddenly, 
"bing," "bing"  "BANG!"  Three bright "Gems" in less  than ten seconds . . 
. the third and final one, being one of those magnitude  -3 beauties I 
described above.  It was as if Castor and Pollux were saying:  "Hey . . . don't 
go yet!  We've still have a few surprises for you."   So I stuck it out for 
another 25 minutes.
 
And I think I might have actually missed a significantly  bright bolide.  
At around 2:15 a.m., I saw what looked like the flickering  effect of what in 
the summertime we call heat lightning.  Of course, no way  that could 
happen on a mid-December night.  I quickly turned around but  didn't see any 
train or trail . . . so if this was a bolide it probably flared  either behind 
my house or amidst a nearby barren tree line.
 
When you take obstructions into account, the actual  hourly rate at my 
location was probably closer to 60 or 65.  In all, an  entertaining, albeit cold 
show.  I'll head out again tonight to see if  there are any "bright 
leftovers."
    
-- joe rao
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