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(meteorobs) Sept Observations



      Below are three observations that I somehow managed to
make despite near-continuous daily cloud cover over the
past week and a half.
 
______________________________________________________________________________________________
    I had success in observing members of several showers the night of this session, though I  saw no GIA's.  The cluster of radiants in the vicinity of Xi-2 cetus made identification difficult at times.  However, given that it was the peak night of the October Arietids, and that the NTA's should not have been very active at all, I feel fairly condidant in my identification of the OARs.
     I endured a stiff easterly wind all night but had transparent skies, until midway through
the planned third period.  Haze, then clouds rolled in and obscured 90 % of the sky.  I gave up
and left, though I probably should have stayed; I saw no more clouds as I drove home, and the
sky was crystal clear when I arrived back at the house.
     

OBSERVER:  Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)  DATE:  10-07/08-99
BEGIN: 04:40 UT  END 7:23 UT  LOCATION:  Treutlen Co, Ga.
82. 24' 25" W;  32. 24' 45" N
METHOD: Tape    Elev 240 ft
Facing South
2 periods, sky 0% obscured

Period 1  4:40 - 5:46UT  SPO(9) OAR(4)  Teff = 1.05
Dead time = 3min
Period 2  5:52 - 7:23UT  SPO(11) ORI(2) OAR(3) DAU(2)
NTA(1) STA(1) Teff = 1.416
Dead time = 6min
 
Limiting Magnitudes
05:00 UT  (IMO 6)+6.59  (IMO 18)+6.52
05:30 UT  (IMO 6)+6.60  (IMO 18)+6.55
06:00 UT  (IMO 6)+6.59  (IMO 18)+6.52
06:30 UT  (IMO 6)+6.60  (IMO 18)+6.52
07:00 UT  (IMO 6)+6.44  (IMO 18)+6.42
07:20 UT  (IMO 2)+5.98  (IMO 18)+6.07
 

Center FOV (UT)
 4:40  0h50min  +10
 5:40  2hr10min +15
 6:46  3hr5min  +20
 
Mag Distribution
SPO(20) +1(2) +2(5) +3(8) +4(2) +5(2) +6(1)
OAR(7)   0(1) +2(1) +3(1) +4(3) +5(1)
ORI(2)  +2(1) +5(1)
DAU(2)  +3(1) +5(1)
STA(1)  +4(1)
NTA(1)  +2(1)

Period 1 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
01  04:45   OAR   +4  2
02  04:51   SPO   +3  4
03  04:54   OAR    0  3
04  05:00   SPO   +3  5
05  05:06   SPO   +6  3
06  05:13   OAR   +5  2
07  05:24   SPO   +3  3
08  05:25   OAR   +4  3
09  05:32   SPO   +4  3
10  05:32   SPO   +3  3
11  05:35   SPO   +4  5
12  05:40   SPO   +2  2
13  05:45   SPO   +3  3

Period 2 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
14  06:07   ORI   +5  4
15  06:13   SPO   +2  3
16  06:16   SPO   +1  4
17  06:19   STA   +4  3
18  06:20   SPO   +3  5
19  06:21   SPO   +1  5
20  06:33   SPO   +2  5
21  06:36   OAR   +2  2
22  06:41   DAU   +2  5
23  06:41   OAR   +4  3
24  06:43   SPO   +3  3
25  07:43   ORI   +2  4
26  06:48   STA   +2  3
27  06:50   SPO   +2  4
28  06:58   SPO   +3  3
29  06:59   DAU   +3  5
30  07:00   OAR   +3  2
31  07:06   NTA   +2  3
32  07:10   SPO   +5  5
33  07:21   SPO   +5  4  very brief
____________________________________________ 

     I appeared to be well positioned for the Draconid nodal crossing which
was to occur around 11:00 PM local (3:00 UT) the night of this session.
So I arrived at my site quite early (just after 8:30pm local).
The first period began with very clear skies but that degraded rather quickly.
   The clouds moved to the south and hung there the rest of the session.
I was facing north to monitor possible GIA's.  These southerly
clouds did, however, prevent me from positively identifying
any of the ecliptic area radiants.  Haze set in for the entire
session after Period 1.
   For my troubles, I saw one Draconid, as soon as I began --  I had
barely sat down in my lawn chair.  Then I saw no more.  But I was
rewarded with a high number of bright meteors, including a nice -3.

OBSERVER:  Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)  DATE:  10-08/09-99
BEGIN: 00:37 UT  END 5:08 UT  LOCATION:  Treutlen Co, Ga.
82. 24' 25" W;  32. 24' 45" N
METHOD: Tape    Elev 240 ft
Facing North at avg dec +55 4 periods
Sky 5% obstructed by a tree all periods

Period 1  0:37 - 1:40UT  SPO(4) GIA(1)  Teff = 1.016
Dead time = 2min
Period 2  1:52 - 2:55UT  SPO(9) Teff = 1.016
Dead time = 2min
Period 3  3:04 - 4:05UT  SPO(9) Teff = 1.00
Dead time = 1min
Period 4  4:06 - 5:08UT  SPO(5) Teff = 1.00
Dead time = 2min
 
Limiting Magnitudes (UT)
00:45   (IMO 1)+6.28  (IMO 14)+6.04
01:00   (IMO 1)+6.06  (IMO 14)+5.91
01:30   (IMO 1)+5.96  (IMO 14)+5.58
02:00   (IMO 1)+5.25  (IMO 14)+5.06
02:15   (IMO 5)+5.25  (IMO 14)+5.06
02:30   (IMO 5)+5.16  (IMO 14)+5.06
02:45   (IMO 5)+5.16  (IMO 14)+5.06  
03:00   (IMO 5)+5.16  (IMO 14)+5.06
03:15   (IMO 5)+4.45  (IMO 14)+4.73 
03:30   (IMO 5)+4.45  (IMO 14)+4.79
03:45   (IMO 6)+5.49  (IMO 14)+5.06
04:00   (IMO 6)+6.14  (IMO 14)+5.58
04:15   (IMO 6)+6.25  (IMO 14)+5.91
04:30   (IMO 6)+6.17  (IMO 18)+5.16
05:00   (IMO 6)+6.13  (IMO 18)+5.67

Center FOV (UT)
 0:37  20hr      +66
 1:52  21hr      +50
 3:05  22hr      +60
 4:05  23hr25min +55
 5:00   0hr45min +52 

Mag Distribution
SPO(27) -3(1) -2(1) -1(1)  0(4) +1(1)
        +2(4) +3(7) +4(7) +5(1)
GIA(1)  +2(1)
 
Sky 5% obscured (clouds) at 01:23, becoming 10%
obscured by 1:30, then becoming 60% obscured by 1:40(end of period)
Clouds moved out of FOV to the SE & SW and lingered there
the remainder of session.  Heavy haze after period 1 for
entire session.

Period 1 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
01  00:38   GIA   +2  2  see remarks
02  00:45   SPO   +1  3  .5 sec wake
03  01:02   SPO   +3  5
04  01:19   SPO   +3  3
05  01:27   SPO   +4  3 

Period 2 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
06  02:30   SPO   +3  2
07  02:32   SPO   +2  2
08  02:39   SPO   -1  3  train
09  02:40   SPO   +3  3
10  02:44   SPO   +5  2
11  02:45   SPO   +4  4
12  02:46   SPO   +3  3
13  02:50   SPO   +3  4
14  02:55   SPO   +4  2

Period 3 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
15  03:21   SPO   +0  4
16  03:25   SPO   +0  3
17  03:30   SPO   +2  3
18  03:34   SPO   +4  3
19  03:38   SPO   +4  4
20  03:48   SPO   -2  4
21  03:56   SPO   +3  3
22  03:59   SPO   -3  5 see remarks
23  04:00   SPO    0  4 2 sec train

Period 4 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
24  04:08   SPO   +0  4 train
25  04:29   SPO   +2  3
26  04:33   SPO   +4  5
27  04:39   SPO   +2  5
28  04:48   SPO   +4  3

Remarks:  The only GIA seen was meteor 1.  It was a near pointer
right at the radiant.  It was just a degree or two north of the given
radiant...zenithal attraction?
Meteor 22 was greenish/bluish with a long path, at -3.
_______________________________________________________
 
     Finally, this is the session for last night (Sept 14/15), and I
again struggled against haze, and my lower rates
obviously reflect this.  Rates were OK the first
period but fell quite a bit the 2nd.  I was forced to
end a planned third period when clouds slowly wiped
everything out by 09:40 UT.  I added the usable, clear portion
to Period Two since no break was taken.
    The Orionids were active, particularly during Period
One.  I observed for ORI's, EGE's, NTA's,  STA's, and SPO's.
Again, I feel my lower rates are in large part a reflection
of the poor LM's due to haze.

OBSERVER:  Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)  DATE:  10-14/15-99
BEGIN: 06:50 UT  END 9:21 UT  LOCATION:  Treutlen Co, Ga.
82. 24' 25" W;  32. 24' 45" N
METHOD: Tape    Elev 240 ft
Facing South
2 periods, sky 0% obscured

Period 1  6:50 - 7:53UT  SPO(6) ORI(6) NTA(1) EGE(1)
Teff = 1.016   Dead time = 2min
Period 2  7:57 - 9:21UT  SPO(8) ORI(3) EGE(1)
Teff = 1.33 Dead time = 4min
 
Limiting Magnitudes
07:00 UT  (IMO 17)+5.46  (IMO 2)+5.54
07:30 UT  (IMO 17)+5.64  (IMO 2)+5.54
08:00 UT  (IMO 17)+5.91  (IMO 2)+5.79
08:30 UT  (IMO 17)+5.61  (IMO 2)+5.60
09:00 UT  (IMO 17)+5.21  (IMO 2)+5.15

Center FOV (UT)
 7:00  3h35min  +12
 5:40  4hr40min +18
 6:46  5hr50min +20
 
Mag Distribution
SPO(14) -1(1) +1(1) +2(4) +3(3) +4(5)
ORI(9)  +1(3) +2(2) +3(3) +4(1)
EGE(2)  +2(1) +4(1)
NTA(1)  +2(1)

Period 1 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
01  06:51   SPO   -1  3   train  green
02  06:53   SPO   +2  3
03  07:00   ORI   +1  4   train
04  07:05   NTA   +2  2   very brief
05  07:13   ORI   +2  4   train
06  07:21   ORI   +2  5
07  07:26   ORI   +3  4
09  07:31   EGE   +4  5
10  07:33   SPO   +3  2
11  07:36   SPO   +1  1
12  07:40   SPO   +3  3
13  07:48   ORI   +1  5
14  07:48   SPO   +2  2  very brief

Period 2 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
15  08:08   SPO   +4  5
16  08:13   SPO   +2  2  Very brief
17  08:13   ORI   +3  5
18  08:27   SPO   +4  3
19  08:35   SPO   +4  4
20  08:40   SPO   +2  3
21  08:45   ORI   +4  5
22  08:51   ORI   +3  4  train
23  09:04   SPO   +4  4
24  09:10   SPO   +4  4
25  09:17   EGE   +2  5
26  09:18   SPO   +3  5

Remarks:  Meteors 16 and 18 were simultaneous
but not related to same radiant.