(meteorobs) Dec 14/15, 2015 Post-max Geminid obs from Deltona, Florida - AMAZING!!!!!

[Koen Miskotte]

Great results Paul!
With two friends Carl Johannink and Sietse Dijkstra I headed to the Flack forrest (Southern Germany) en luckily we had a clear night 13/14 december. Unfortunately, during 14/15 the sky was almost cloudy.
But we did see a great meteor show. I stil have to listen to my voice recorder,  but I think I counted 500-600 meteors during 7 hours of observing under good skies (lm 6,4-6.
A few bright ones, most of the Geminids were weak. I will sent a report when it is finished.
Regards, koen

From: Paul Jones 
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 1:38 AM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum 
Subject: (meteorobs) Dec 14/15, 2015 Post-max Geminid obs from Deltona,Florida - AMAZING!!!!!

Greetings again all,
          I journeyed down to my dear forids Dave and Brenda branchett's home in Deltona, Florida last night to escape the threat of cloudy skies once again in the St. Augustine area.  We had already lost the maximum night here to the clouds the night before, so I was determined not to miss the chance to see the well-known Geminid "mass-sorting" phenomenon (also called photographic maximum in the old days) as well.
     As it turned out, Brenda and I had four plus hours of mostly clear skies in her backyard about 75 - 80 miles southwest of St. Augustine) and there we witnessed one truly amazing display of meteor activity from the GEMs!! 
     It wasn't the quantity of meteors, as the activity had dropped quite a bit in rates, it was the amazing brightness of many of the meteors that we saw that made it so very memorable!
     I managed to see four Geminid fireballs all told during the 4 hour watch, that was the best I had done in one night during a major shower since the 1998 Leonids!  And there were several other GEMs that were almost fireballs as well. We had a fabulous -6 GEM fireball burst just off the eastern horizon, two - 5 fireballs that lit up the cirrus haze in the southwestern sky and a -4 GEM fireball shot due west over the house.  
     Just as amazing as the brightness of many of the GEMs was the intense and varied colors we were seeing in them.  We had blue, yellow, orange, red and turquoise tones in virtually every bright GEM we saw.  Incredible!

Here's my data from the amazing session:

Dec., 14/15 2015 Observer: Paul Jones, Location: Deltona, Florida (75 - 80 miles south/ southwest of St. Augustine, Florida) 

915 - 1015 p.m. EST (0215-0315 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 4.5, Sky Condition: 25% obstruction due to cirrus haze interference), Facing: east
20 GEM: -3, -2 (2), -1 (3), 0 (4), +1 (2), +3 (3), +4
4 SPO: +2. +3 (2). +4
24 total meteors

1015 - 1115 p.m. EST (0315 - 0415 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 4.8, Sky Condition: 15% cirrus haze interference, Facing: east
25 GEM: -5, -4, -3, -1 (2), 0 (3), +1 (3), +2 (5), +3 (6), +4 (3)
1 ANT: +3
4 SPO: +2 (2), +3, +4
30 total meteors

1115 - 1215 p.m. EST (0415 - 0515 UT) Teff 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 5.0, Sky Condition: 15% cirrus haze interference, Facing: south
27 GEM: -5, -3, -2 (2), -1 (3), 0 (3), +1 (4), +2 (7), +3 (4), +4 (2)
3 SPO: +2, +3 (2)
30 total meteors

1215 p.m - 115 a.m. ST (0515 - 0615 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 5.0, Sky Condition: 20% cirrus haze interference, Facing: south
35 GEM: -6, -3, -2, -1, 0 (3), +1 (5), +2 (10), +3 (9), +4 (4)
1 DLM: +3
5 SPO: +2, +3 (2), +4 (2)
41 total meteors

130 - 200 a.m. EST (0630 - 0700 UT) Teff: .5 hour, No breaks, LM: 4.8, Sky Condition: 35% cirrus haze interference, Facing: south
13 GEM: -1, 0, +1 (2), +2 (3), +3 (5), +4
1 DLM: +2
3 SPO: +2, +3, +4
17 total meteors

    All told in 4 1/2 hours, I had 143 meteors with 121 GEMs.  Of those 121 GEMs, an incredible 21 GEMs fell into the negative magnitude category!  Only the 1998 Leonids and the 2001 Leonid storm compare with that in all my 41 years of meteor watching!
    Brenda and I had fun comparing impressions on magnitude estimates and color perceptions during the watch and found we agreed very well most of the time on our calls.  As usual she would see some that I didn't and vice versa, but overall our perceptions also seemed to be very similar still, even after all these years...;o).  
    I couldn't help but think that her neighbors must have wondered what the heck was going on outside as we would hoot and holler and carry on every time we saw a bright one go by - and that was pretty often...;o).
    I would like to extend a warm thank you to Brenda and Dave for inviting me down, opening their lovely home and being such awesome hosts once I got there.  We are also making plans to get back together nextmonth for the 2016 Quadrantids, as the predicted maximum of this elusive shower is very favorable indeed for the eastern US!!  

More later, Paul J in North Florida


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