(meteorobs) Meteors in Iowa

[Paul Martsching]

It finally became mostly clear and I went out for a while.  Conditions were not that great.  It is hard to remember all the active radiants.

McFarland Park 4 miles NE of Ames, Story Co, Iowa

Showers looked for:
ANT
DLM
GEM
HYD
MON
NOO

The brightest meteor of the session was a mag 0 white HYD with train.

08 Dec 2015 0520 - 0750 UT (2.5 hours)

08 Dec 2015 0520 - 0620 UT 35 deg F; dew pt 32 deg F; wind South 6 mph; average LM 5.4; average cloud cover 10 percent; clouds drifting eastward; facing East 50 degrees; teff 1.0 hour
ANT: one: +3
DLM: one: +3
GEM: four: +2; +3(2); +4
Sporadics: two: +2; +3
Total meteors: eight

08 Dec 2015 0620 - 0720 UT 34 deg F; dew pt 31 deg F; wind South 5 mph; average LM 5.5; "fair" - patches of very thin haze passing thru; facing East 50 degrees; teff 1.0 hour
DLM: one: +3
GEM: five: +2(2); +3(3)
HYD: one: 0
MON: one: +3
Sporadics: seven: +1; +2; +3(5)
Total meteors: fifteen

08 Dec 2015 0720 - 0750 UT 33 deg F; dew pt 31 deg F; wind South 5 mph; average LM 5.2; patches of haze coming in from North - against direction of ground wind; facing East 50 deg; teff 0.5 hour (30 min)
MON: one: +1
NOO: one +3
GEM: two: +1; +3
Total meteors: four (30 minutes)

Quit at 0750 because of clouds coming in from North.

It was extremely foggy the morning of 07 December so I did not see Comet Catalina and I did not see Venus occulted by the Moon.  About noon the fog began to blow away with a strong South wind and I went to the little park South of my apartment building.  It took me a while to find the Moon with 8 X 40 binoculars - I never could see it naked-eye.  At about 12:25 Venus appeared as a yellow star West of the thin white crescent Moon.  I looked at the scene for several minutes so I could imagine what it would look like without clouds of floaters.  It reminded my of why I do not look thru a telescope.  The floaters are getting worse.  I may eventually have to abandon meteor observations altogether, except as "personal entertainment".  (Eye surgeons are extremely reluctant to perform the procedure which gets rid of massive numbers of floaters.)

Paul Martsching in Iowa