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

Wed Dec 16 14:09:00 EST 2015

Awesome Koen,
   Thank you for the kind words.  Glad to hear you got a look at the
maximum!  Seems like many folks were clouded out around most of the globe
this year.

George,
   I concur with you on the DLMs.  They seem to be a very intriguing minor
radiant indeed that suffers getting somewhat lost during the GEM maximum!
We are supposed to have a clear and cold weekend here upcoming, so I hope
to get out and monitor the DLMs a bit better closer to their max and
without all the GEMs going on around them.  Will advise...

Clear skies, Paul J

On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 12:38 PM, Koen Miskotte <k.miskotte at upcmail.nl>
wrote:

> 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 <jonesp0854 at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 16, 2015 1:38 AM
> *To:* Global Meteor Observing Forum <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
> *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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