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(meteorobs) Re: Feb 3/4 meteors fair
Amongst long hours of tax work I slipped in a 3.3-hour meteor session Feb
3/4. Watching 226 - 546 AM EST (726 - 1046 UT) I saw 32 meteors ; a rare
time for no minor showers active. Three hourly rates were 10,11,8 in sky
7.0,7.2,6.8. The moon came up for the last one. I plotted most of the
meteors but got no radiants. Nothing was brighter than 0. I was satisfied
with the rates ; expecting 10 or more per hour at best. Early April and
late May are my worst -- am hard-pressed to see over 7/hour at those times.
Hale-Bopp looked to be magnitude 1.5, half a degree across and tail 1.5
degrees long. Has a very pale blue color.
One memorable slow mag +2 meteor was an intense emerald green, seen in 1969
August from the Keys overhead in the Great Square. It was a sporadic. Have
never seen another one like it. Lasted 2 seconds so I got a good look. A
lot of fireballs have green as one component regardless of elevation seen.
Yellow, blue, and orange are my dominant colors (yellow heavily so) ; green
is the best of my lesser colors. I have never seen a red meteor ; a handful
have been red-orange. One fragmenting meteor, upon emitting a shower of
orange sparks, did have one red spark in the middle. That's my only
experience with red standing alone.
Norman
Fort Myers, Florida