(meteorobs) 2014 Geminid observations from north Florida

[Bias, Peter V]

Hi Paul and everyone,



My results were worse than about anyone else on here. Even though I'm in Lakeland FL, not that far from St. Augustine where Paul is and had very clear skies with about 5.0 lm, I saw very few over the past three days.



The night of 12/13 I saw only 4 in 25 minutes between 11:00 and 11:25 EST. On 13/14 I saw 11 between 11:00 and 11:45 (one was a sporadic). On 14/15 I saw only 4 in forty minutes between 10:00 and 10:40. I was looking to the southeast most of the time.



I know it was from my backyard and the skies are influenced by the city lights a bit, and I lost about 30% of the sky due to trees obscuring, but it was very clear and I have watched under similar skies many times before. Still, this was my worst Geminids showing that I can remember since I've lived in Florida (25 years).



No bright meteors, in fact, no memorable meteors at all.

Not sure why I missed the fun.



    Pete Bias

________________________________
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org [meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] on behalf of Paul Jones [jonesp0854 at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 9:13 AM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
Subject: (meteorobs) 2014 Geminid observations from north Florida

Hello again all,
      I finally finished deciphering all the observational data from the last three nights.  Here goes:

Observer:  Paul Jones   Date: Dec 12/13 2014, Location: 5 miles SW of St. Augustine, Florida (Lat: 29.81 N, Long: 81.35 W)  LM: 6.0, Sky Condition: Clear, Facing: south

0330 - 0430 UT (10:30 - 11:30 p.m. EST)  Teff; 1.0 Hour, No breaks

15 GEM
3 SPO
18 Total meteors

GEM Mags:
+1 (1), +2 (3), +3 (5), +4 (4), +5 (2)

__________________________________________________________________________


Observer:  Paul Jones   Date: Dec 13/14 2014, Location: 5 miles SW of St. Augustine, Florida (Lat: 29.81 N, Long: 81.35 W)  LM: 6.0, Sky Condition: Clear, Facing: south

0300 - 0400 UT (10:00 - 11:00 p.m. EST)  Teff; 1.0 Hour, No breaks

44 GEM
4 SPO
48 Total meteors

GEM Mags:
-1 (1), 0 (4), +1 (7), +2 (12), +3 (10), +4 (7), +5 (3)


0400 - 0500 UT (11:00 pm. - 12:00 a.m. EST) Teff: 1.0 Hour, No breaks

61 GEM
2 ANT
5 SPO
68 Total meteors

GEM Mags:
-2 (1), 0 (5), +1 (9), +2 (16), +3 (15), +4 (11), +5 (4)

__________________________________________________________________________


Observer:  Paul Jones   Date: Dec 14/15 2014, Location: 5 miles SW of St. Augustine, Florida (Lat: 29.81 N, Long: 81.35 W)  LM: 6.0, Sky Condition: Clear, Facing: south

0300 - 0400 UT (10:00 - 11:00 p.m. EST)  Teff; 1.0 Hour, No breaks

19 GEM
4 SPO
23 Total meteors

GEM Mags:
-1 (1), 0 (2), +1 (1), +2 (5), +3 (5), +4 (3), +5 (2)

0415 - 0445 (11:15 - 11:45 p.m. EST) Teff: .5 Hour, No Breaks

8 GEM
2 ANT
5 SPO

GEM Mags:
0 (1), +1 (1), +2 (2), +3 (2), +4 (1), +5 (1)

As mentioned earlier, all the GEM fireballs seemed to escape me this year...:o(.  Maybe they just don't like me...;o).  But, I did manage to catch quite a few of their little brothers.

As mentioned by other folks, virtually no trains were noticed from the GEMs, even the brighter ones.  Maybe one or two left the tiniest hint of a wake behind them, but not even enough to officially call - pretty much typical GEM behavior.  I didn't see much color in the GEMS I saw either, maybe a couple with a yellowish tint and one or two with a bluish tint.  That was about it.

I look forward to the meteor year 2015: both the PERs and the GEMs near New Moon!

Clear skies to all,