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(meteorobs) Sept. 14 Observations

Well I finally made it out again after more than a month of ill-timed
clouds and illness. I watched for a bit over 3 and a quarter hours from
the Descanso Observatory with George Zay. I counted a whopping 11
meteors which really does not give me any motivation to head back out
tonight. George commented that the rates were decent before moonrise.
The rates certainly stunk after moonrise as these rates are more
comparable to a March morning. It got so bad late in the session I
actually caught myself nodding off a couple of times.

Of the 11 meteors seen 3 were classified as September Perseids (Delta
Aurigids), 1 was a Piscid, and the remaining 7 were sporadic. There were
2 meteors of medium velocity that could have had radiants in Aries. One
was 2nd mag. from the area just west of Gamma and the other was a
another 2nd magnitude from an area just south of Alpha (Hamal). There
were also 2 meteors that could have lined up with George's radiant in
western Auriga but these were both classified as September Perseids
since the radiant distance was large and a slight tweak of the position
angle would have placed it directly from the SPR radiant.

September 14, 1998

0910-1012 UT   1.00   6.52   1 SPR   3 SPO   4 TOTAL
1012-1114 UT   1.00   6.22   1 SPI   1 SPR   2 SPO   4 TOTAL
1114-1230 UT   1.25   5.86   1 SPR   2 SPO   3 TOTAL

TOTALS:        3.25   6.17   1 SPI   3 SPR   7 SPO   11 TOTAL

The first column is the period watched in Universal Time (PDT + 7
hours). The second column is the percent of an hour actually spent
watching the sky during this period. Time is lost for breaks, plotting,
and data entry. The third column is the average limiting magnitude
during each period with a minimum of 4 estimates. The last columns list
the activity seen during each period.

I was facing south southeast at an altitude of 65 degrees. No breaks
were taken during this session. SPI = Piscids, SPR = September Perseids
(Delta Aurigids), and SPO = SPORADIC (random activity).

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   49 F (9 C)   34%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity:   50 F (10 C)   28%

MAGNITUDES:

SPI   +3   (1)   AVERAGE   +3.00
SPR   0   (1)   +2   (2)   AVERAGE   +1.33
SPO   0   (1)   +2   (3)   +3   (1)   +4   (1)   +5   (1)   AVERAGE  
+2.57

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA
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