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(meteorobs) Nov 13 Observations



-- [ From: Robert Lunsford * EMC.Ver #2.5.1 ] --

After a 3 day vacation to Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino mountains
east of Los Angeles I had plans to observe Monday night/Tuesday morning.
The only problem is that I could not get my fanny out of bed no matter
who many times I reset the alarm. I was glad George was out. At least
one of us was watching the skies.

Last night I overslept again but managed to walk to the window only to
see fog. So much for watching from home. I decided to head for the hills
and watch from the observatory. The fog was limited to the coast but
there was plenty of high clouds, but not enough to make me turn around
and head back home. I could still see plenty of stars and that was good
enough for me.

I counted 39 meteors during 3 1/2 hours of observing with an almost
constant thin veil of cirrus. The cloudcover was not that bad until the
last half hour when LM's took a nosedive. I ended up with 7 Leonids, 4
North Taurids, 2 South Taurids, and 26 sporadics. The highlight of the
night occurred at 3:08:25am  (11:08 UT) when a brilliant flash occurred
behind me high in the western sky. I turned around immediately and saw a
bright train some 10 degrees long directly over Aldebaran and lined up
perfectly with the southern horn of Taurus. This fireball (estimated at
-8) was obviously a Leonid and the train lasted a full 7 minutes before
I lost it as it drifted into the shield of Orion. It could have been
followed a bit longer had the cirrus not been present. I my haste to
leave home I forgot my binoculars. This train would have been an
excellent binocular target to view the changing shape. Anyway, this
fireball made the nights effort worthwhile.

09:45-10:45  UT     0.93     6.18     3 LEO     1 NTA     6 SPO

10:45-11:45  UT     0.93     6.34     1 LEO     1 NTA     10 SPO

11:45-12:45  UT     0.94     6.10     2 LEO     1 NTA     2 STA     8
SPO

12:45-13:15  UT     0.48     5.50     1 LEO     1 NTA     2 SPO


F was 1.00 the entire session. TeFF was reduced due to plotting . I was
facing east at an altitude of 60 degrees the entire session.

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:     45 F  (7 C)     29%    
Light Wind

Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity:         45 F  (7 C)     28%    
Light Wind


Bob Lunsford