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Re: (meteorobs) Fwd Casper ter Kuile: wintertime observing dan



At 22:21 03-12-96 +0000, you wrote:
>I've just read Marco's message via Casper.  It sounds as if being
>upright compensates for not being fully in a sleeping bag.  It
>actually _felt_ colder in my torso on a night when the temperature was
>just below freezing because the humidity was much higher.  On such
>nights one has a good excuse to go inside to warm up---the objective
>can soon be covered in dew.
>
>> I think extra monkeys are awarded for that!!
>
>Mark Vints also deserves extra monkeys too, as we were both observing
>telescopically.  Casper was there with his 50 cameras (or so it seemed),
>but he wasn't outside that much! (-;  I guess with the fully automated
>systems he has now Casper can stay indoors most of the night.  I'm
>only teasing, Casper.

Hi Malcolm!

Thank you for all your comments!
But you overestimated the number of camera's I used during our famous Geminid
campaign in the Provence a bit: there were only about 18... Thanks to this 
number which were equiped with 50 mm standard lenses you got the briljant 
fireball. One could also use one camera and a fish-eye lens but the measuring
accuracy will be much lower. Too low in fact for multistation work which we
conducted at that moment in close cooperation with our collega's Peter
Jenniskens
and Marc de Lignie who at that moment suffered even more from the cold and lots
of snow higher up in the mountains...
That brings me to the topic of the sensation of cold which the observer has
to care of. Malcolm is right indeed I could/must walk inside the building 
because I noted down the times when I transported the camera's. This job was
at that time done by hand every 25 minutes or so. Nowadays the Canon T-70
are automatically transported with help of a Command Back 70. That walking 
kept me warm. But besides this I think one very important aspect during the
Geminids is the Mistral which was blowing rather heavy: about 8 to 9 beaufort?
The Mistral comes right away from the mountains and is therefore a dry wind.
In the low-lands of Holland most of the time the air is very moisty and this
gives an impression of cold much faster than a dry air even if it's colder and
the wind is blowing. Can anyone of you confirm my feelings? Malcolm?
   
>That successful campaign reminds me of another thread.  I too haven't
>been lucky to see many very bright fireballs despite thousands of
>hours of visual observing mostly during the 1970's.  That's probably
>because I didn't watch that much during the early evening when
>fireballs are most common.  One of the best was during the 1990
>Geminid campaign.  This was a multiple-flaring -12 sporadic whose
>downward path was parallel to the telescope tube; I spotted it when
>recording a telescopic meteor.  Thanks to Casper's generosity and
>skill I have a photograph of it adorning my work area.
>
>Malcolm

Such a briljant fireball itself give warm feelings due to emotions 
which take possession of the observer... Moreover: such a splendid
succesfull campaign like the Geminids 1990 still give me a warm feeling...
Malcolm: we have to do it over once again!

Casper.

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