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(meteorobs) May 7 Observations
-- [ From: Robert Lunsford * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
I observed for 4 hours from George's observatory with Ron Rennie and
George Zay. Ron was down to videotape the three of us plus the view from
George's observatory. We arrived well before sundown and enjoyed good
conversation while waiting for it to get dark. When night arrived we had
an excellent view of Hale-Bopp. I estimated the magnitude at +0.5 with a
10 degree dust tail. No trace of the ion tail was seen but the lights of
San Diego were in the same direction so that did not help matters. It
was a nice sight through George's 20 X 100 and Ron's 15 X 80 binoculars.
There were many field stars to enhance he view. I slept from 9pm to 1am
and then began meteor observing. I counted a total of 51 meteors during
the 4 hour session. 30 belonged to the Eta Aquarid shower. 4am-5am
produced 16 Eta's which is the best rates seen so far. Nothing brighter
than magnitude 0 was seen. Of the 51 meteors, two were possible
candidates for Norman's Lyrid radiant.
0800-0900 UT 0.97 6.78 1 ASC 1 MVI 2 SPO 4 TOTAL
0900-1000 UT 0.96 6.61 3 ETA 6 SPO 9 TOTAL
1000-1100 UT 0.93 6.44 2 ASC 11 ETA 3 SPO 16 TOTAL
1100-1200 UT 1.00 6.11 1 ASC 16 ETA 1 WCA 5 SPO 23 TOTAL
I plotted the first 3 hours and then recorded data on tape during the
final hour. I was facing east at an altitude of 70 degrees.
MAGNITUDES:
ASC +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (1) +5 (1) AVERAGE: +2.75
ETA 0 (1) +1 (7) +2 (5) +3 (10) +4 (5) +5 (2)
AVERAGE: +2.57
MVI +4 (1) AVERAGE: +4.00
WCA +2 (1) AVERAGE: +2.00
SPO +1 (1) +2 (4) +3 (4) +4 (5) +5 (2) +6 (0)
AVERAGE: +3.19
BEGINNING TEMPERATURE/RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 41 F (5 C) 58%
ENDING TEMPERATURE/RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 40 F (4 C) 66 %
NOTE: MVI, & WCA will be reported to the IMO as SPO. ASC will be
reported as SAG
Bob Lunsford