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(meteorobs) Re:Oct 21/22 Orionids continue normal
Night two of Orionid max was productive. Normal is 25/hr. Arrived at my
observing site with rather cloudy conditions near moonset, but it cleared
nicely within minutes. I completed almost two hours before clouds came by,
then got the final half hour again. 2.80 hours had 81 meteors in sky 7.3.
There were 2 more during the break, which I spent mostly napping.
Two good hours 326-526 EDT (726-926 UT) (75% cloudy final 6 minutes) plus a
final session 559-626 EDT (959-1026 UT) had the following rates: 22,25,9
Orionids; 5,6,1 sporadic. The 81 total comprised 59 Orionids, 4 South
Taurids, 1 North Taurids, 3 Epsilon Geminids, and 14 sporadics. The average
Orionid mag was 2.76 using 55 Orionids; the others are not used as they were
seen through clouds. This keeps my mag table pure and true to the best sky
condition. The brightest, at 337 (737 UT) was a yellow -3 with 2-sec train.
I think that's three nights in a row with that description of the best one.
Mag table 0 to +6 is 7,3,13,14,6,6,5. Much brighter this time. More of the
brighter ones came early. Maybe I'll get a fireball tomorrow, haven't seen
one yet.
The +5m's are almost entirely 2-3 degrees long, and the +6m's are 1-2
degrees. My average length for all meteors is only about 5 degrees, held
down partially by my good perception for the faintest ones. At last Bob and
I have Oct 20/21 jointly, and our rates were nearly identical. This
demonstrates, as I have long surmised, that his perception for bright
meteors is far above mine, but for faint ones I may be better than he. In
the brighter showers he blows me away on rates, but for the faint ones we
are about even.
I always record shower members no matter where I am looking. There should
not be any difficulty in this regard. Anything gets better with practice.
Just glance back to the radiant to check on alignment for each meteor.
Again I faced the Orionid radiant throughout. My pad is lined up N-S and I
turn as needed, good to prevent stiffness also. It has become much harder
to see truely stationary meteors as I can detect path lengths as short as
two minutes of arc.
One interesting sight was a satellite flaring to -4 and white as it was
coming out of a cloud. It stayed that bright for 5 seconds, then dropped to
+4 within a couple of seconds. What could produce such brilliance? The
shuttle I have seen at -3 a couple of times.
The temp was in the mid-60's, quite comfortable. Only toward the end did I
need a sheet for cover. But the mosquitoes were somewhat reactivated by the
warming trend. Had a touch of ground fog, which will likely be worse
tonight as humidity returns.
Will have to do a short note on Florida Geminid weather soon.
Norman
Fort Myers, Florida
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