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(meteorobs) Sept 6/7 Meteor Observations From California



I dragged my tired eyes and all out to the hills again for a 4 hour
session. One would think that after only 2 hours sleep the previous
24 hours that I would have some trouble staying awake. This was 
definitely not the case. The reason being that shortly after beginning
the watch I could hear a mountain lion prowling the hill to the north
of me. If that was not enough the Border Patrol was also active in the 
area. So with all that activity I had no trouble staying awake!

The skies were not quite as good as Monday morning nevertheless activity
was better. The Alpha Aurigids are still hanging in there and the 
September Perseids made a decent showing. The Piscids also contributed 
an average of one meteor per hour. The Triangulum region again produced 
2 meteors.

Once again the most active area was central Taurus with 7 more swift 
meteors this morning. Plots revealed another tight radiant at 76 (5:03) 
+20 which is virtually identical to yesterdays position. It will be 
interesting to see just how long this activity continues.


September 6/7 1999

0830-0930 UT  0.93  6.68  0 AUR   0 SPI   3 SPR   7 SPO   10  TOTAL
0930-1030 UT  0.91  6.62  0 AUR   1 SPI   0 SPR  10 SPO   11  TOTAL
1030-1130 UT  0.91  6.58  0 AUR   1 SPI   3 SPR   9 SPO   13  TOTAL
1130-1230 UT  0.88  6.33  2 AUR   2 SPI   0 SPR  11 SPO   15  TOTAL

TOTALS:       3.63  6.56  2 AUR   4 SPI   6 SPR  37 SPO   49  TOTAL


The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
particular hour actually spent observing the sky. Time was lost for
plotting and data entry tonight. The third column gives the average
limiting magnitude estimated during each period with a minimum of 4
estimates using at least 2 and preferably 3 different sky areas close to
my center of view. The last several columns list the activity seen
during each period.

I was facing East at an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire
session. No breaks were taken. AUR = Alpha Aurigids, SPI = Piscids, 
SPR Sept. Perseids, and SPO = Sporadic (random activity). Moonrise 
occurred at 12:20 U.T. (delayed due to hill in northeast).

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   46 F (8 C)  42%
Ending         "         "         "       42 F (6 C)  43%

MAGNITUDES:

AUR:   +3 (1) +4 (1)                         AVERAGE: +3.50
SPI:   -1 (1) +2 (1)  +4 (1) +5 (1)          AVERAGE: +2.50
SPR:   +1 (2) +3 (1)  +4 (2) +5 (1)          AVERAGE: +3.00
SPO:    0 (5) +2 (6)  +3 (12) +4 (10) +5 (4) AVERAGE: +2.92

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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