(meteorobs) 2015 Orionids max obs from north Florida - weather being a total pain!

[Michel Vandeputte]

Awesome set of observations, Paul (en others). I really enjoy reading this! 

Keep on observing and share it with us all!  

Clear skies ! 



Michel Vandeputte
 

Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 10:54:10 -0400
From: jonesp0854 at gmail.com
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: (meteorobs) 2015 Orionids max obs from north Florida - weather	being a total pain!

Greetings again all,    Well, last night proved to be yet another very challenging exercise in weather dodging for me, but I did manage two productive albeit disjointed hours of observing from two different locations around the county...;o).      The coastal clouds were still doing their thing, so I ventured west to my trusty Hastings, Florida potato field, arriving just before moonset (around 2:00 a. m. EDT).  Once again, as last night, I was greeted by pitch black, cloudless skies upon arrival and got right to business as soon as the moon set.       And also just as last night, Mother Nature allowed me only one amazing hour of furious meteor activity before slamming the window shut on me once again.  This time it was "pea soup" fog that rolled in in earnest and that was, as they say, all she wrote for my potato field watch.    Before that fog rolled in however, I had a stunning overall meteor total of 40 between 2:00 and 3:00 a. m. EDT!  They were coming so fast, I could barely keep up with them!  In addition to the Orionids, I was keen to monitor the Taurid/Arietid complex of radiants that have been getting quite a bit of discussion on Meteorobs this year.  And I was well rewarded!    I had a total of 13 meteors radiate from the Taurus/Aries area during that hour and did my best to separate them into individual radiants (eta Taurids (ETT, southern Taurids (STA) and another one, the Autumn Arietids (AAR) mentioned by veteran meteor watcher George Gliba.  I had good activity from all three of them it turned out!  Data to follow...    After the fog rolled in, I retreated back home and took a much-needed nap hoping the fog would eventually dissipate and it finally did.  So I got back up on my meteor roof and had a decent pre-dawn hour of Orionid watching as well. 
Here's the data:
Oct., 21/22, 2015, Observer: Paul Jones, Location: 18 miles southwest of St. Augustine, Florida (5 miles east of Hastings, Florida)2:00 - 3:00 EDT (0600 - 0700 UT), LM: 6.8, Clear, Facing: south16 ORI3 ETT5 STA5 AAR1 EGE10 SPO40 total meteors
Mags:ORI: +2, (1), +3 (5), +4 (6), +5 (4)ETT: +3 (2), +4 (1)STA: 0 (1). +2 (1), +3 (2), +4 (1)AAR: 0 (1), +3 (1), +4 (3)EGE: +3 (1)SPO: +2 (1), +3 (4), +4 (3), +5 (2) 

Oct 21/22, 2015, Observer: Paul Jones, Location 5 miles southwest of St. Augustine, Florida0500 - 0600 EDT (0900 - 1000 UT), LM: 5.7, 25% fog degradation, Facing: south25 ORI2 EGE2 STA3 LMI (Leo Minorids)9 SPO41 total meteors
Mags:ORI: 0 (1), +1 (1), +2 (2), +3 (9), +4 (8), +5 (4)EGE: +2 (1)STA: +3 (2)LMI: +1 (1). +2 (1), +3(1)SPO: +1(2). +2 (1). +3 (5), +4 (2)
I found monitoring the Taurd/Arietid complex this morning to be quite fascinating and hope to do some more of that over the next few nights.  Although the radiants are near to one another on the sky and meteor characteristics are similar between them, many of these meteors I saw were very short and close to the radiant complex, so I am fairly confident about separating them out.  A big thanks to George Gliba for mentioning this radiant!Lots of way cool stuff going on up there in the meteor department lately...;o).
More later, Paul J in north Florida

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