(meteorobs) 2015 Orionid max obs from north Florida - Rocking right along!

[Paul Jones]

Hello again all,
       FINALLY, Mother Nature cut me some much needed slack this morning
and I was able to put together a mostly awesome three and a half hour ORI
meteor watch marathon session from the obscure and nameless Hastings,
Florida potato field.
       The clouds held off for me beautifully and the fog mostly stayed
away as well.  The result was 3 1/2 hours of blissfully dark skies, wide
horizons and a pretty impressive meteor count total.  I had an overall
total of 149 meteors with 90 of them being ORIs between 0300 and 0630 EDT.
       There were no fireballs for me this morning and a majority of all
the meteors, especially the ORIs, were quite faint and short-pathed.  In
lesser sky conditions, I would probably not have seen half of them.  But
that's what makes the ORIs such a interesting and challenging shower to
observe!
       The Taurid/Arietid complex was not quite so evident to me this
morning although still producing, leaving me free to concentrate more on
the ORIs and they were up to the task and then some!  My three full hourly
ORI counts were: 19, 28 and 23, with the last hour before dawn coming in at
a full 20 ORIs in just thirty minutes!
       That third full hour (0500 -0600 EDT) was affected for about twenty
minutes by a fog bank that moved in and dulled the skies just long enough
to keep me below a 30/hour ORI total for the hour.  I'm pretty sure I would
have easily topped it without that fog.  But then it rolled out again as
quickly as it moved in right around 0600 and from there till twilight, the
ORIs were everywhere!

Here's the data:

Oct. 22/23, 2015, Observer: Paul Jones, Location: 18 miles southwest of St.
Augustine, Florida (5miles east of Hastings, Florida)

0300 - 0400 EDT (0700 - 0800 UT) LM: 6.8, Clear, Facing: south
19 ORI
3 STA
2 AAR
1 EGE
10 SPO
35 total meteors

0400 - 0500 EDT (0800 - 0900 UT) LM: 6.8, Clear, Facing: south
28 ORI
4 STA
1 EGE
1 LMI
11 SPO
45 total meteors

0500 - 0600 EDT (0900 - 1000 UT) LM: Var. - 5.8 - 6.8, 25% fog degradation,
facing: south
23 ORI
3 STA
1 ETT
1 LMI
11 SPO
39 total meteors

0600 - 0630 (1000 - 1030 UT) LM: 6.8. clear, Facing: south (30 minutes)
20 ORI
1 EGE
1 LMI
8 SPO
30 total meteors

Mags:

ORI: -1 (1), 0 (4), +1 (4), +2 (13), +3 (26), +4 (28), +5 (14)
STA: +1 (1), +2 (1), +3 (2), +4 (4), +5 (2)
AAR: +2 (1), +4 (1)
EGE: +1 (1), +3 (2)
LMI: 0 (1), +2 (1), +4 (1)
ETT: +2 (1)
SPO: +1 (3), +2 (4), +3 (11), +4 (15), +5 (7

Trains: 25% of the ORIs left visible trains, the number of train-leaving
ORIs rose noticeably closer to twilight.

Colors: The brighter ORIs were mostly reddish in color, with several also
showing yellow tints.

I almost gave up and left during that third hour when the fog rolled in,
slowing the meteor rate and increasing my fatigue level, but something told
me to hang in there and I am glad I did.  When the fog finally rolled out,
the ORI light switched on and they really cut loose that last half hour!

It was awesome to see the planet grouping going on over in Leo this morning
as well - an added bonus to the watch.  I'll try it again in the morning...

Clear skies, Paul J in north Florida
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