(meteorobs) Dec., 19/20 2015 meteor obs from North Florida - Lots going on up there!

[Paul Jones]

Greetings again all,
    The cold front finally cleared the sky out for us during the day
yesterday, so I decided to journey forth to my trusty Hastings, Florida
potato field to see what was up in the meteor department.
    I ended up having two very productive albeit chilly pre dawn hours out
in the "boondocks" with lots of meteor activity, Comet Catalina and an
amazing view of the pre dawn zodiacal light.  The nice thing about the
session was - NO FOG!!  Yay...;o).  The temperature was 42 degrees F. with
a bit of a breeze blowing, humidity about 75%.
    The DLMs and the GEMs both were still surprisingly active from the
outset and I caught two bright URS (Ursids) in the second hour as well.  I
had 12 DLMs, 7 GEMs, 2 URSs and 32 other meteors for 53 total in the two
hours.

Dec., 19/20, 2015, Observer: Paul Jones, Location: Hastings, Florida (18
miles southwest of St. Augustine, Florida)

0400 - 0500 EST (0900 - 1000 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No Breaks, LM:6.5, Sky
conditions: clear, Facing: South
6 DLM: -1, +1, +2, +3 (2), +4
4 GEM: +2, +3 (2), +4
1 HYD: +4
1 DSV: +3
14 SPO: +1 (2), +2, +3 (4), +4 (4), +5 (3)
26 total meteors


0500 - 0600 EST (1000 - 1100 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No Breaks, LM:6.5, Sky
conditions: clear, Facing: South
6 DLM: +1 (2), +2 (2), +3, +5
3 GEM: +2, +3, +4
2 URS: 0, +1
1 DSV: +2
1 XVI: +3
1 ANT: +2
13 SPO: +1, +2 (2), +3 (5), +4 (3), +5 (2)
27 total meteors

I had hardly begun the watch when I saw both a DLM and a GEM within the
first five minutes!  From there, the activity hardly abated at all for the
rest of the time I was out!  A couple of the DLMs left nice trains as did
several of the brighter sporadics.  The first of the two URS I saw was a
beauty, long and slow, shooting due south through over 30 degrees of sky in
western Leo.
Comet Catalina was a fairly prominent "fuzzball" in 10 x50 binoculars, nice
but hardly what I would call a "sungrazer"...;o).  Comets and I have a
strained relationship - I want them all to look like Comet West did back in
1976...;o). So far since, none of them have even come close for me.   I had
to look through the broad band of zodiacal light to pick it out.
I hope to get out again for a bit in the morning to see if the activity can
sustain a good level.  The DLMs have been quite a pleasant surprise this
year and I hope for more good things from the URSs as well.  We shall see...

Clear skies to all, Paul J in North Florida
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