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(meteorobs) Weekend in New Jersey
Saturday, Kevin and I spent several hours clearing out a new observing area
at the NJAA (My back hurts). It was a cloudy and blustery day...but
miraculously cleared up at sunset. Nice skies. As I prepared my observing
kit, it clouded over between 8:25 and 8:30. Rained from 11PM till 3AM. As I
was heading to bed at 4, Orion blew me away as I locked the door. It was
clear. Went outside to peek a little, but it was too late, and I too tired
to do any serious observing. Seemed very slow, but I was home, light
polluted LM around 5.0. By the time it clouded up again, temp had dropped
so fast rain on cars had frozen solid.
Last night (Sun nite), Kevin and I finally got a chance to
observe...christening the new area.
We were there from about 6UT to 0830. Activity seemed slow to me , although
22 Meteors plotted doesn't work out too low. We noted some Taurids (About
10?) but I can't say for sure until I examine my plots, and all I examined
when I got home was the inside of my eyelids, since I work a 12 hour day
today and needed some sleep. ( Also, it takers me some time to analyze,
unlike the old pros who do it before they go to sleep) I saw no Leonids, in
fact only 1 or 2 speed 4 meteors, and the mean magnitude was rather dim
also..only one 0 mag for me, Kevin spotted a -1 I believe.
The other factor was again the cold. It was 26 degrees F at the start,
and the temperature dropped steadily...I had the old ice encrusted sleeping
bag syndrome- heavy frost. Had to warm up in the building (Kevin cooked it
up to around 80, God bless him) before I could even drive.
Prospects for the upcoming weekend weatherwise are not hopeless,
although 6 days out is a bit too far to reliably predict. Frozen fingers
crossed.
Wayne