(meteorobs) 2014 Geminid observations from north Florida

Paul Jones jonesp0854 at gmail.com
Mon Dec 15 15:00:26 EST 2014


Hi Pete,
     As I recall, there were some mighty long lulls in the action on all
three nights while I was out and you may have just had the unfortunate
timing of viewing during some of those lulls.  I don't know why, but I saw
quite a few of my GEMs right after getting started and then again near the
ends of the hours.  In between, I almost fell asleep a couple of times, due
to slow activity...;o).
The difference in LM may have contributed to your losing some of the
fainter GEMs as well.   I'm sure I would have seen considerably fewer GEMs
in 5.0 LM skies also.  Except for an occasional long-pathed, showy GEM, the
majority of them were faint and short it seemed to me, too darned  easy to
miss.
Over the years of observing, I've developed a way of recording data on
paper that allows me to keep my eyes on the sky virtually all the time yet
still not miss recording anything.  Tape recorders are nice, but they can
and do malfunction!  I employ this system during each major shower.
I found I was missing way too many meteors by looking down to record meteor
info each time I saw one, especially during the major showers!  I now use
yellow sticky notes, each one timed to cover 15 minutes of observing and a
pencil, vice a pen.  I found that ink stops flowing when you are writing
pointing up, but pencils work just find being used "upside down".  When the
15 minutes are up, I just peel them off and stick them in my pocket and
start in on the next one - no muss, no fuss...;o).  This system seems to
work well, especially  for the PERs and GEMs, because in the time it takes
to look down and record data for the first one seen, three or four may have
flashed by while you are not looking!
After the session, I just pull all the sticky notes out of my pocket and
reconstruct the entire session.   Try it next time, it works!

Just a few thoughts...    Anyone up for the Ursids, by chance...?

Best wishes to all for a Happy Holiday season, Paul in St. Augustine

On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Bias, Peter V <pbias at flsouthern.edu> wrote:
>
> 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,
>
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>
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