[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Observations May 3/4 ZAYGE
It was cloudy over the observatory in Descanso again last night. So, around 11
pm I started for my Yuma, Ariz site to try my luck out there. But by the time
I got out of the mountains and just entered the desert near Ocotillo, the
skies were clear. So, I observed in a deserted area near Ocotillo a little
ways off the road. This saved me about 160 miles of driving. I was glad to cut
the trip a little short. The skies were again 6.0 and clear for the 2.25 hours
that I observed(2h30-4h45 PDT). The wind was a little brisk, but wasn't a
major problem. Anyhow, meteor activity seemed relatively slow to me again. The
Aquarids seemed to drag on with low activity. I recorded 19 meteors total. Of
which 11 were Eta Aquarids and 1 was a Sagittarid and the rest being
sporadics. The brightest was my first Aquarid of the morning...an orange -1. I
may have captured it on film..dot it's a 50-50 possibility in my judgement. My
first hour turned up only 1 Aquarid. The second hour and a quarter gave me the
other 10 Aquarids. Of these two were +5, three +4, two +3, two +2, one 0 and
one -1. This gives me a mean of 2.82...just about what I had yesterday
morning. I normally get about 15 or 16 aquarids for my best hour with maybe 10
for the previous hour. Something sure seems different this year from my
observations.
George Zay