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(meteorobs) May 21 Observations
-- [ From: Robert Lunsford * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
I watched for 3 hours from the Descanso Observatory this morning. I did
not think I was going to find clear skies as the cloud layer extended
far inland. Finally 2 miles from the observatory I broke through into
clear skies. Even though the clouds were thick to the west skyglow
ruined the entire western half of the sky. I decided to face a bit east
of north to continue to follow the activity seen two nights ago. It was
unbelievably cold! It hit my face the second I left the car. The
observatory roof was a solid sheet of ice and footing was treacherous. I
should have taken the time to plug in a electric blanket but I wanted to
start by 30 minutes after the hour so that I could get 3 full hours. By
the third hour my teeth were chattering and I felt like a popsicle.
After a half hour of observing I checked the thermometer and it read a
bone chilling 27F.
Activity was fairly consistent during the session. A total of 21 meteors
were counted. Near the beginning of the third hour I looked as if I
might have to quit early as fog began to drift over. It became thick all
around me but always left the area near the zenith unaffected so I kept
on observing. The fog brought with it higher humidity which quickly
froze atop my sleeping bag. The layer of fog to the east was welcome as
it blocked the moon to within 15 minutes of quitting. After a half hour
the fog began to retreat and the sky was perfectly clear again during
the remainder of the session. The highlight of the night was an orange
colored zero magnitude sporadic right through the head of Draco near the
center of my field of view.
May 21, 1998
0830-0930 UT 0.95 6.68 1 SAG 7 SPO 8 TOTAL
0930-1030 UT 0.95 6.50 1 ETA 2 SAG 3 SPO 6 TOTAL
1030-1130 UT 0.95 6.11 7 SPO 7 TOTAL
TOTALS 2.85 6.43 3 SAG 1 ETA 17 SPO 21 TOTAL
The first column is the period watched in Universal Time (PDT+7 hours).
The second column is the percent of the time actually watching the sky.
Time is lost for breaks, plotting, and data entry. The third column is
the average limiting magnitude during this period with a minimum of 4
estimates per period. The last column lists the activity seen during
each period.
I was facing North-Northeast at an altitude of 60 degrees. No breaks
were taken during this session.SAG = SAGITTARIDS (actually in Scorpius),
ETA = ETA AQUARIDS, and SPO = SPORADIC (random activity)
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 27 F (-3 C) 48%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 30 F (-1 C) 78%
MAGNITUDES:
ETA +3 (1) AVERAGE: +3.00
SAG +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (1) AVERAGE: +3.00
SPO 0 (1) +1 (4) +2 (1) +3 (9) +4 (2) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +2.41
Bob Lunsford
San Diego, California USA