(meteorobs) Orionids from Iowa Sunday morning

pmartsching at mchsi.com pmartsching at mchsi.com
Mon Oct 22 15:57:13 EDT 2012


According to the weather forecasts Sunday morning was my only chance to see this year's Orionids.  I lost most of my data for the first hour because the point of each of my first two pencils broke off inside the wood and a piece of the lead dropped out.  This sometimes happens with pencils that have been dropped or have been in humid conditions - the lead comes unglued from the wood and breaks and drops out easily.  Its a good idea to check the point of your pencil occasionally just to be sure!

This was my first extended meteor observing since cataract surgery.  If you have severe astigmatism and cataracts, ask your eye surgeon about torik lenses.  You will have to pay for them yourself (neither insurance nor medicare will pay), but they are worth the cost.  I am having to become accustomed to being far sighted after having been near sighted my entire life.  The torik lens worked extremely well in my right eye, but not quite as well in my left eye.  So this session I did not wear glasses at all (I haven't got a lens for my left eye yet).

The number of planes and jets was strangely low even considering the time of night: 1, 1, 1, 0, 4 by hour. 

My guess is that the Orionids performed about average this year.  The brightest Orionid was during my "mostly lost hour" at 06:50 UT mag -3 orange with train lasting about 3 seconds.  My brightest North Taurid was also during this hour at 06:57 UT mag -1 yellow.

The dew point was very close to the temperature and from time to time there were hints of a bit of fog.  

07:00-08:00 UT 42 deg F; dew pt 41 deg F; "clear"/"fair"; wind SE 6 mph; LM 5.8; facing East 55 deg; total teff 1.0 hr.
EGE: one: +3
ORI: eight: +1(2); +2; +3(4); +4
NTA: one: +3
STA: two: 2(2)
Sporadics: one: +3
Total meteors: thirteen

08:00-09:00 UT 41 deg F; dew pt 40 deg F; "clear/fair"; wind SE 5 mph; LM 5.7; facing East 55 deg; total teff 1.0 hr.
EGE: one: +3
LMI: three: -3; -2; -1
ORI: nine: 0; +2(2); +3(4); +4(2)
Taurids: none
Sporadics: four: +3(3); +4
Total meteors: seventeen

09:00-10:00 UT 42 deg F; dew pt 41 deg F; "clear/fair"; wind SE 6 mph; LM 5.6; facing East 55 deg; total teff 1.0 hr.
EGE: none
LMI: one: +3
ORI: fourteen: -2(2); 0; +1(3); +2(3); +3; +4(3); +5
Taurids: one: +3
Sporadics: six: +2; +3(4); +4
Total meteors: twenty-two

Paul Martsching 


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