[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Re: NWM1999Sep10/11 meteors dismal
Despite a good working quality sky of LM7.0 on 1999 Sep 10/11 I managed to
record only 24 meteors in 4:03 hours of observing. Total time coverage was
220 - 623 EDT (620 - 1023 UT). In the regular complete hours 226 - 526 EDT
(626 - 926 UT) total meteor rates were 3,7,5. The last hour, cut short by
twilight at 610 EDT (1010UT), I saw 8 more meteors, the best of the night.
I faced east to plot the radiants around Perseus, Auriga, and Taurus, but
nothing showed on the charts with so few meteors. There were 2 Delta
Aurigids and 4 South Piscids. The latter were interesting to see as they
resembled Taurids.
The best of the night was a short white-blue -4m at 409 EDT (809 UT) only
10 degrees off the NNE horizon in western Ursa Major. Of the Dipper stars
one pointer star was all I could see at the time, just rising. Out of 17
sporadics seen 7 of them were +2m.
I don't know why so many more meteors were occurring over Georgia with Kim
during the same period. Bad luck here, I guess. The rates were about 40%
of what I would expect for the date.
There were far fewer mosquitoes than usual, fine with me. It's been a bit
dry the past month, and the hordes hatched out from 20 inches of rain in
July have expired by now. I went out wearing shorts and found the slightly
cooler temps in low 70's F more pleasant for a change.
The next night was too cloudy, then hazy, to go out. I did watch casually
for 10 minutes around 430 EDT from the front yard with LM4.0 but saw
nothing. Tonight continues hazy. In another day we should be in the clouds
and wind field of Hurricane Floyd, getting mighty big at this point. It's
going to be a problem for upstate Florida and Georgia unless the right turn
comes late.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Asst Visual Program Coordinator
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html