(meteorobs) Quadrantids, Sharon MA USA 2012 Jan 4

[Richard Kramer]

I managed to find a little time to watch for Quadrantids

It seems that it is always especially cold during the night of the 
peak! Temperature was 4 deg F (-16 C), and winds were refreshing at 
about 14 mph (22 km/hr). At least the winds helped prevent 
evaporation from my eyeballs from condensing on my eyeglasses. There 
seemed to be a very thin haze throughout the air column which 
reflected the urban light pollution which plagues my location. LM was 
a SOLID 3.5 with brief moments teasing me at 4.0. Hardly ideal, but 
still clear enough to skim some of the cream of the shower's peak.

I observed informally for about 10 minutes without a single sighting. 
I then relocated for some formal observation to one of my standard 
lakeside locations strategically situated where nearby vegetation 
shields me from the local street lights. I simply stretched out on 
the frozen ground and directed my attention to the darkest region of 
my light polluted skies which was overhead, almost centered on Leo. 
It was a noisy night for wintertime. The geese in the lake were 
restless and complaining about the cold. Occasionally, I could hear a 
bare tree branch knocking in the wind. Somewhere in the distance a 
dog was asking loudly to be let inside out of the cold. The owls were 
not calling.

After I logged on the clock, I was almost immediately rewarded with a 
long, swift +1 SPO lined up almost exactly with the QUA radiant but 
travelling in the exact opposite direction. Shortly afterwards, the 
best track of the night: a brillant, -3 QUA starting almost overhead 
just north of Leo and stretching almost 20 degrees. It brightened to 
at least -4 towards its terminal end and left a train which was 
visible for about 2 seconds despite the haze. This was followed 
pretty quickly by two more really nice QUA. Since the shower seemed 
active, I went to short recording intervals and decided to use short 
term memory as my primary recording method, logging off the clock 
after every 3 or 4 meteors to quickly record the accumulated 
sightings before 'clearing' my memory queue.

The second observing slice was nearly as impressive as the first with 
another -3 QUA which spanned a longer track than the first one but 
was less spectacular because it started SW of Leo and finished much 
closer to the horizon where the haze masked any train there might have been.

The third observing slice was pretty discouraging. Not a single 
track. The wind seemed to drop a bit and I was starting to get some 
icing on my eyeglass lenses. The geese's lullaby also started to lull 
me to sleep. I decided to quit while I was still ahead, and ended the session.

Results follow.

Regards,
Richard



// Header section
night    	2012-01-03/04
begin    	2012-01-04 0610
end      	2012-01-04 0655
observer	"Richard" "Kramer"
location	71 10 52 W, 42 06 32 N
elevation	61 meters
site    	"Lake Massapoag, Sharon MA" "United States"
reporter	"kramer at sria.com"

// Shower section
shower	QUA 230 +49
shower	SPO

// Number section
// 	Interval  	RA  	Dec 	Teff 	F    	Lm  	   QUA 	   SPO
period	0750-0803 	140 	+45 	0.217 	1.10 	3.50	C   3 	C   1
period	0804-0812 	140 	+45 	0.133 	1.10 	3.50	C   2 	C   1
period	0813-0821 	140 	+45 	0.133 	1.10 	3.50	C   0 	C   0

// Magnitude section
//          	Show 
Interval     -6    -5    -4    -3    -2    -1    +0    +1    +2    +3 
    +4    +5    +6    +7    Tot
distribution 
QUA 	0750-0821   0.0   0.0   0.0   2.0   1.0   0.0   1.0   0.0   1.0 
  0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0    5.0
distribution 
SPO 	0750-0821   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   2.0   0.0 
  0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0    2.0

// Personal comments
Temperature -16.0 C
Winds N 22 Km / hr
light haze, urban light pollution