(meteorobs) Dec 12/13 2013 Geminid observation from north Florida

[Paul Jones]

Wow, way to go, Pete!  Yes, I think the Gems really did brighten up quite a
bit last night, at leas compared to the night before.  It may have been
that post-max, mass sorting episode the Gems are so very good at.  I was
hoping to catch some of that this morning, but Mother Nature shut it down
for us up here.

Best wishes, Paul


On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 9:47 AM, Bias, Peter V <pbias at flsouthern.edu> wrote:

> Paul and list,
>
> I am down in central Florida and we had the same front coming through but
> not quite as far south with the heavy clouds. We had some clear skies off
> and on before midnight and allowed some windows of opportunity. I just
> watched; didn't even take note of the times because I knew the data would
> be funky, but I saw 12 Gems between roughly 10:30 EST and 11:00. One was
> just like Paul mentioned although I think it was considerably brighter
>  (seems like a wild guess when nothing to compare it too; but brighter than
> Venus during flares) - multi colors, flaring, spitting off parts, etc. Best
> Geminid I've ever seen - and I've been watching Geminids since 1970.
> Several of the meteors were colorful and bright - again, something I've not
> seen with the Geminids before. They usually seem to me to appear as a milky
> color without the colorful flashes, but not last night. One other oddity
> (and I'm not sure if I even saw it correctly!) - one meteor seemed to start
> out as a black meteor and then
>  switch over to a bright flashing meteor farther along the path. Never saw
> this before either. Crazy night.
>
>    Pete in Lakeland
> ________________________________________
> From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org [meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org]
> on behalf of Paul Jones [jonesp0854 at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 9:28 AM
> To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
> Subject: (meteorobs) Dec 12/13 2013 Geminid observation from north Florida
>
> Hello again meteor fanatics,
>      I  promised full data on my Geminid observations from yesterday
> morning and they follow below.  I was hoping to do a repeat observation
> this morning, but yet another cold front descended rapidly down upon us
> here in north Florida and slammed the door shut on us.
>     However, in the "extremely lucky catch" department, early last
> evening, before the frontal clouds took over, I caught a stunning,
> multi-colored  "windshield" Geminid earthgrazer while driving back home
> from an errand to the local grocery store.  It was just after 7:00 pm.
> local time and I was facing west looking at how bright Venus was low in the
> sky, when a stunning -3 Geminid earthgrazer skipped, flashed and flared
> slowly through about 40 degrees of sky right next to Venus!    It really
> put on an amazing lightshow indeed as it dropped into the western horizon.
>  It was yellow, orange, blue and turquoise among other colors, leaving a
> sparkly silver train behind it.  It flared up and died down about four
> times on its path, each time a different color when it re-flared again.
>  Wow, was she ever a beauty!.
> Anyway, here is the data from yesterday morning:
>
> Dec. 12/13, 2013, Observer: Paul Jones, Location: 5 miles SW of St.
> Augustine, Florida, Total Teff: 2.25 hours, LM: 6.0, Sky conditions: clear
> (first hour), 20% cloud interference (second hour) Facing: south
>
> 0830 -0930 UT (0330 -0430 EST)
> 63 Geminids
> 3 sigma Hydrids
> 2 Anthelions
> 12 Sporadics
> 80 total meteors
>
>
> 0930 -1045 UT (0430 - 0545 EST)
> 45 Geminids
> 2 sigma Hydrids
> 18 sporadics
> 65 total meteors
>
> Magnitudes:
>
> Gems: -2 (1), -1 (1), 0 (1), +1 (4), +2 (16), +3 (39), +4 (31), +5 (15)
>
> sigma Hydrids: +1 (1), +2 (1), +3 (2), +4 (1)
>
> Anthelions: 0 (1), +3 (1)
>
> Sporadics (0 (2), +1 (3), +2 (6), +3 (6, +4 (7). +5 (4)
>
> Only five of the 108 Geminids I saw left trains and the only observed
> color I had was a few with yellow.  The zero mag Anthelion was a blue-white
> beauty that left a nice train as it practically bisected the Geminid
> radiant.
> During that second hour, 10 of the 18 sporadics I saw left trains, fully
> outperforming the Gems in that one department.
> All in all, I would say the Geminids put on a great show in 2013, albeit
> definitely on the fainter side for the most part it seemed to me.  At least
> compared to previous years I've seen them, particularly in 2007 when
> Geminid fireballs were flying left and right it seemed!   Each year is a
> different story, though.  That's why we love to get out and see them so
> much!!
> Looking forward to 2014 and a good year to catch the Quadrantids!  Good
> luck to all...
>
> Clear skies, Paul in St. Augustine, Florida
>
>
>
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