(meteorobs) GEM maximum from southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

 Clouds persisted over southern Maryland for all of the pre-moonrise period December 13/14.  However they cleared away after local midnight (5 H UT) on the 14th and I drove to Bel Alton and watched moonlit Geminids for 2h 50m, from 642-940 UT (8 minute break). 
 
Moonlight lowered the limiting magnitude to +4.8, but the sky was clear and cloud-free and I saw an average of one Geminid every two minutes, for a total of 81.
 
I saw nine minus-magnitude GEMs but no fireballs.  However on my drive home at 10:19 UT, I saw a -6 Geminid and wondered if that was the start to a fireball period.  (IMO predicted the maximum would occur at 12h UT).
 
Geminid magnitude distribution for the entire observation:
 
-2 (4)
-1 (5)
 0  (6)
+1 (8)
+2 (14)
+3 (30)
+4 (14)
 
Average GEM magnitude= +2.09
 
It was disappointing to see no fireballs during the session, but the Geminid rate was quite good considering the bright moon

Rich
 		 	   		  
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