(meteorobs) Ursid report from Alberta -- alas, no outburst

Bruce McCurdy bmccurdy at shaw.ca
Tue Dec 23 03:33:54 EST 2014


The best laid plans of mice and men 


 

The plan was to be at an observing site by the onset of astronomical
twilight, around 18:30 local time (= MST = 01:30 UT), in the evening hours
as close as possible to the peak and with the radiant still descending
towards its lower culmination. . However, the cloud was slower clearing out
than forecast, and then of course I was slower clearing out of the house
than I should have been. L Drove the better part of an hour in the general
direction of the radiant (and of the clearing skies!) before finding a
suitably dark site, and even there the limiting magnitude was fair but not
great, maybe mag 5.7.

 

Set up just after 03:30 UT with the radiant swinging through the very bottom
of its arc, though that is still a very reasonable 40° or so here in the
Great White North. I got two hours of Teff, during which I can only say
whatever outburst may have occurred, was definitely on the downswing. I saw
6 Ursids in the first hour, then just 2 in the second. 

 

Brightest meteors observed were a mag -1 Ursid in the early going followed
within seconds by a +1 Ursid; then much later, a -2 Sporadic with several
explosion points near the northern horizon, followed seconds later by a
beautiful blue-green Ursid of magnitude 0. In between these doublets
stretched many minutes of no activity, occasionally enlivened by a single,
generally faint meteor, Besides the 8 Ursids recorded, I identified 2 from
the Anthelion radiant and 5 sporadics. No December Leonis Minorids were seen
despite by hope of catching an earth-grazer or two from the rising radiant.


 

Btw, I note Peter Brown’s note was forwarded by Bill Cooke, but I wonder if
there was a time lag involved. Bill’s email arrived at 19:45 local time, but
Peter’s original note bore no time stamp. I’m just wondering if I missed the
outburst by a little or a lot!

 

Seasonal greetings to all on the list. 

 

Bruce

*****

 

From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Michel Vandeputte
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 1:03 AM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Ursid outburst in progress - from Peter Brown

 

Traces of a small outburst indeed? 
http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~hro/Flash/2014/URS/index.htm

On RMOB radio data I see not big signs; bit I am not a specialist of these
techniques... 

Kind regards, 

Michel Vandeputte

 

 

  _____  

From: michelvandeputte at hotmail.com
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 08:58:29 +0100
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Ursid outburst in progress - from Peter Brown

Last good Ursid return, for me, is already 14 years back; the small outburst
on December 22 in 2000... 
This night was clouded out...

Kind regards

Michel Vandeputte

 

 

  _____  

From: pmartin at teksavvy.com
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:51:42 -0500
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Ursid outburst in progress - from Peter Brown

Hopelessly overcast in eastern Ontario as well!  We have a freezing rain
warning to make matters worse.

 

Pierre

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Dec 22, 2014, at 10:48 PM, Richard Taibi <rjtaibi at hotmail.com> wrote:

 

Sorry- sky is overcast and raining at 3:45 UT on the 23rd.  Forecast for the
metro Washington, D.C. area is clouds and rain until Thursday the 25th.  I
wish I could see this!
Richard Taibi
 


  _____  


Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 04:21:02 +0100
From: jens.lacorne at gmail.com
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Ursid outburst in progress - from Peter Brown

Hello Peter,  Bill,  and all !

I just return from an observation here in south-eastern France, started at
21h30 UT and ended at 01h15  UT. I saw a good activity from the ursids : a
dozen per hour under a sky with LM 5-5,5 and a low  radiant. I think we can
have a ZHR nearly 50 in this conditions .
Reports come later.
I hope that other observers can confirm this outburst.

Clear skies !

Jens Lacorne 
Le 23 déc. 2014 03:44, "Bill Cooke" <cookewj at comcast.net> a écrit :
>>
>> FYI, looks like there is a fairly strong Ursid outburst in progress –
started in the last hour or so. Not sure of the ZHR/rates but looks to be
quite strong – many tens per hour at least.
>> P
>>  
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Dr. Peter Brown
>> Director – Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration
>> Canada Research Chair in Meteor Astronomy
>> Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
>> University of Western Ontario
>> London, Ontario
>
>
> Regards,
> Bill
>
> (Sent from my iPhone)
>
> _______________________________________________
> meteorobs mailing list
> meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs
>


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