(meteorobs) Obs: 16/17 Nov 2012

pmartsching at mchsi.com pmartsching at mchsi.com
Sat Nov 17 12:25:23 EST 2012


I went out for more than four hours this morning, primarily looking for Leonids and North Taurids.  The first two hours the Leonids were extremely poor.  After a break, the next two plus hours were better.  The brightest Leonid was probably the only one observed during the first hour.  It started several degrees North of Jupiter and went Westward being at least 0 magnitude before it went out of my FOV overhead and behind me. Otherwise none brighter than mag -1.  Seemed to be just a very ordinary, regular Leonid year.

The highlight of the session was a mag -6 NTA yellow with a broad and long (25+ degrees) orange wake, which disappeared immediately after the meteor.  It traveled down along the left/north side of the Big Dipper and ended 5 or 6 degrees above the Northern horizon.

The sky appeared to be clear the whole time, but during my break I noticed some fog in the lower areas both to the East and to the West of the observatory hump.  I also saw very patchy fog on the drive home, mostly in low lying areas, but sometimes in higher places.    

17 Nov 2012 07:15-11:45 UT with 15 min break (16/17 Nov CST 01:15-05:45 am with 15 min break)
McFarland Park 4 miles NE of Ames, Story Co, Iowa, USA

07:15-08:15 UT 33 deg F; dew pt 29 deg F; wind SE 5 mph; clear; LM 5.8; facing E 55 deg; teff 1.0 hr.
LEO: one: 0 (maximum brightness unknown)
NTA: two: -1; +3
Sporadics: five: +2; +3(2); +4(2)
Total meteors: eight

08:15-09:15 UT 32 deg F; dew pt 29 deg F; wind SE 7 mph; clear; LM 5.8; facing E 55 deg; teff 1.0 hr.
LEO: three: +2; +3(2)
NTA: one: +1
Sporadics: six: -2; +2; +3(4)
Total meteors: ten

09:30-10:30 UT 32 deg F; dew pt 30 deg F; wind SE 5 mph; clear; LM 5.7; facing E 55 deg; teff 1.0 hr.
LEO: thirteen: -1(2); +1(4); +2; +3(2); +4(3); +5
NTA: one: -6
Sporadics: four: +2; +3; +4(2)
Total meteors: eighteen

10:30-11:30 UT 29 deg F; dew pt 28 deg F; wind SE 4 mph; clear; LM 5.7; facing E 55 deg; teff 1.0 hr.
LEO: nine: 0(3); +2; +3(3); +4(2)
NTA: one: -2
Sporadics: nine: +1; +2(2); +3(5); +4
Total meteors: nineteen

1130-1145 UT conditions similar to previous hour, but LM 5.5 because of twilight.  Fifteen minutes only.
LEO: five: +2; +3(3); +4
Sporadics: one: +3
Total meteors: six (15 minutes)





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