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(meteorobs) Geminids 14/15 th December



Hi all.

I drove out to the new observing site at Piru Creek, near Gorman, CA., and
arrived at the same time as Bob and Joe  who had kindly driven up to join
me.   The site offers beautiful  mountain scenery with a spectacular gorge
cut by the Piru Creek and surprisingly dark skies considering the fact that
it less than fifty miles from sprawling Los Angeles.

Unfortunately the night's  viewing did not match our surroundings.   It was
a very slow night with two exceptions, for me.   The first was a very nice
bright white  zero magnitude Geminid early in the evening.  The second was
three appearances of a magnitude twenty five Helid, with a very audible
sound!    Actually, this was a military helicopter that suddenly appeared
flying in a southerly direction and passing about one hundred feet directly
over our heads at about two hundred miles per hour.   Joe and I watched in
complete amazement  as this vague shadow, silhouetted against the feint
skyglow  zoomed by.   It seemed certain that it was going to crash into the
nearby mountainside in it's path, but there  was no telltale fireball.
Bob was in his tent at the time and after blindly  experiencing that
thundering performance he will never be able to compete in any brass monkey
bragging competitions again.    About forty five minutes later it returned,
flying the same path in the opposite direction.  And then again forty five
minutes later we could hear its, now familiar, thundering throb approaching
along the canyon, returning for an encore performance.  And then it was
gone.  Never to be heard from again.   It would be interesting to know what
equipment they had on board that enabled them to hug the this mountainous
terrain so closely, at such high speed, with absolutely no light.   After
that the Geminids where a complete let down.

The other thing to talk about  was the temperature which got down to 20
degrees Fahrenheit.  I don't know how many brass monkey's that rates but I
made full use of:   one  pair of long johns, two sleeping bags,  three thick
sweaters and a space blanket over the whole lot.   And I wasn't thinking of
"The Twelve Days of Christmas"   at the time.

Well, it's bedtime again.

Best wishes 

Ron