(meteorobs) Oct 19/20 Orionids from north Florida

[Paul Jones]

Greetings all,
       I managed to get in my first 2012 Wayne T. Halley Memorial Orionid
Meteor Watch this morning (Oct. 19/20) from the roof of my house here in
St. Augustine. The Orionids were hitting fairly well already and I managed
to catch two real pretty Taurids, too.   I had originally intended to go
for two hours in the pre-dawn, but lingering shreds of clouds from the
front passage hindered the first hour quite a bit as far as good data goes.
All told during the two hours, I had 24 Orionids, 3 Taurids, 2 epsilon
Geminids and 13 sporadics.
       The first hour, 0430 - 0530 a.m. EDT, was mostly useless for an
hourly count with the clouds constantly interfering as they did, but I
still managed to get 7 Orionids, 3 Taurids and 5 sporadics in between
them.
      The second hour, 0530 - 0630a.m. EDT, cleared nicely, however and I
was finally able to see what the Orionids were really up to.  The LM was
6.2 throughout the hour with zero cloud interference and produced 17
Orionids, 2 epsilon Geminids and 8 sporadics for 27 total meteors.
      No fireballs were seen during the watch, but I did have a lovely -1
Orionid, along with a golden -1 Taurid also.  Two other Orionids reached
zero magnitude and one of the other Taurids was a beautiful blue-white
first magnitude.  Several of the Orionids left nice trains as well.  All in
all, not too shabby a start for the 2012 Orionids and I'm keeping a close
eye out for those Taurids as well!   I plan to get out each of the next
four or five mornings if Mother Nature allows.  I am anxious to see if the
shower can do for me this year what it did last year!  I'm sure though,
they will do meteor Wayne very proud...;o).  Full data to follow later.

Clear skies and happy hunting to all, Paul in St. Augustine
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