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(meteorobs) Observations for Nov 12/13, GRALE (Lew Gramer)
I managed to get my Leonid observing campaign off to a bone-numbing but
satisfying start last night, with Teff = 1.9 hours of plotting at the local
astronomy clubhouse. Limiting magnitude about 5.8 DESPITE the nasty gibbous
moon flooding the landscape from just behind my head! More on that below...
First, the ugly data! All meteors were plotted. The two Leonids were mags 2 and
2.5 (the mag 2 was an exciting "classic" LEO for me: very swift, with a pale
green-orange train lasting 1.5 seconds in spite of its faintness).
Period CFV Teff LM F NTA STA ORI AMO LEO SPOR
0520-0735 07h+40 1.8x 5.8x 1.01 1 2 4 2 2 9
The conditions last night were both intriguing and ennervating: the ambient
19oF temp made for an EXHILIRATING experience. It would have been difficult to
be more AWAKE, but at the same time I felt less ALERT. Apart from the slowed
reflexes of a poorly-dressed Southern boy, I sincerely believe I *saw fewer
meteors* than I would have in warmer weather! Even though my eyes never left
the sky for longer than 60 seconds to do a plot, I still felt less "attuned"
just after this or any other interruption than I normally do - having to fumble
around with hat, gloves, sleeping bag, thermal blanket, etc.
Part of this was surely just getting used to Winter observing after a long
hiatus - and not much experience to begin with. But I did notice this even last
Winter... Just another reason why I naively wonder if Perception Coefficient
may need to be more than a simple constant for each observer - e.g., taking
into account seasonal variations?
I also noticed several unusual effects, observing under such a bright moon.
First and foremost, having the landscape lit is DISTRACTING: the excess glow,
the sky color, and especially the SHADOWS are not something I've ever noticed
while observing in light pollution. And in fact, the darker the sky, the MORE
pronounced this effect seems to be.
Second, I had a distinct impression of seeing more TRAINS under the moonlight
than I would otherwise. No explanation for this, but 40% of the meteors last
night did have trains. Maybe not an unusual number considering all the
train-happy showers active now, but... Oh, well, small sample size anyway!
Well, there's my $0.02 for the day. New England faces high clouds tonight and
snow beginning after midnight - next prospect Sunday morning... :( I hope
everyone's Leonid watches are getting off to a productive start this week!
Lew
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