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(meteorobs) Recent Meteor Observations From California
After two miserable sessions at home I finally decided to seek darker
skies and head east. On Monday morning I watched from 11pm-2am before
falling asleep due to lack of activity. The LM ranged from 5.0 to 5.5
but the activity was really scarce. A total of only 7 meteors were
recorded. Tuesday morning was even worse. I started later in the hope to
see more activity and did not see a thing for 45 minutes. After 45
minutes the fog started to roll in so I just gave up and went to bed.
This morning I drove to a site above the fog layer and enjoyed clear
and dark skies. The difference in activity was astounding as I recorded
3 meteors during the first minute of observing! The September Perseids
were still active producing 6 meteors in 3.5 hours. The Piscids were
barely active as I logged only 2. One meteor came from the area of
Alpha Trianguli. The Taurid radiant was still active but I will discuss
this in a separate message.
The surprise of the night (discovered at home while analyzing plots) was
a sharp radiant at 88 (5:52) +02 which produced 5 medium fast meteors.
This position is just south of the bright orange star Betelgeuse.
The highlight of the session was a -1 Piscid that shot into the
northeast sky lasting 2 seconds. It was not bright at third magnitude
but the length and duration were impressive.
September 14/15 1999
0900-1000 UT 0.88 6.59 1 SPI 3 SPR 10 SPO 14 TOTAL
1000-1100 UT 0.92 6.58 0 SPI 1 SPR 11 SPO 12 TOTAL
1100-1230 UT 1.35 6.43 1 SPI 2 SPR 17 SPO 20 TOTAL
TOTALS: 3.15 6.52 2 SPI 6 SPR 38 SPO 46 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 watching the sky. Time was lost for
plotting and data entry tonight. The third column gives the average
limiting magnitude estimated during each period. 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. SPI = Piscids, SPR = Sept. Perseids, and
SPO = Sporadic (random activity).
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 39 F (4 C) 18%
Ending " " " 37 F (3 C) 13%
MAGNITUDES:
SPI: +3 (2) AVERAGE: +3.00
SPR: -1 (2) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (1) AVERAGE: +1.00
SPO: 0 (1) +1 (6) +2 (5) +3 (12) +4 (9) +5 (5) AVERAGE: +2.97
Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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