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(meteorobs) Fwd: Obs. LANMA 16/17 Oct 1999 (ORI)
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 20:12:04 +0200 (CEST)
From: Marco Langbroek <marcolan@stad.dsldot nl>
To: meteorobs@jovian.com
Cc: dedalus@latrade.com
Subject: obs. LANMA 16/17 Oct 1999 (Ori)
What a beatiful night this was!
Due to a high above Scandinavia and a continental wind, the skies here have
turned extremely clear and the air very dry. So, ideal conditions to go
for a hunt targetting early Orionids. A table with data is at the end of
this mail.
I started at 0:55 UT (2:55 local time) and to my excitement counted a Lm
of +6.5 in both Taurus and Pegasus and even +6.6 in Perseus; in 20 years
of observing from Voorschoten, I've seldom had such a deep limiting
magnitude! Later this night, Lm slightly (but only slightly) dropped to
+6.4, still extremely good for my location. The sky was star-spangled,
the air tranquile and dry. Orion and Taurus and the winter milky way stood
out very well, I could count 11 stars in the Pleiades easily.
Temperatures were at 4 degrees Celsius, I reckon it must have been zero
at toe-level. And in accordance with the good Lm, meteor rates were very
good. In 3.10 hours effective, I observed a total of 62 meteors, of which
12 were Orionids. All meteors have been plotted. Some nice and
occasionally bright sporadics appeared (to name some of the best; fast
yellow mag. 0 at 1:02 in -damned be the thing!- the Pegasus square;
mediumfast mag. 0 at 2:46 in Auriga; fast mag. +1 with short persistent
train at 3:51 in Auriga; fast mag. 0 at 4:13 on the Aur-Gem border).
Thus, I enjoyed a very satisfying night. Orionids were modestly active
and well recognizable, but no particularly bright ones appeared (best one
a +2 with 1 sec persistent train at 2:55 in Aries). The first
appeared 13 minutes after I started.
My data result in a Orionid ZHR of 5 +- 1; theoretically it should be
around 6 (P. Jenniskens, A&A 287 (1994), 990-1013), so isn't that nice?!!
There was a low Taurid activity, not particularly attractive although a
nice long yellow mag. 0 appeared in Andromeda at 1:28. My data result in
a overall Taurid ZHR of 2 +- 1 (theoretically it should be 2 -how nice
again!). I also had two possible epsilon Geminids (although according to
Marc's video data the stream might not exist), and one early Leo minorid.
At 4:35 UT (6:35 local time) I stopped, because twilight was approaching,
fatigue came down upon me and I noted that my mind started to wander from
meteors to other attractive things (Lauren in Cairo). This was one of the
most enjoyable nights I experienced lately. Since the good weather
continues, I think I will be out again coming night, to see whether the
Orionids are gradually catching on in activity.
Table with data below.
- - Marco Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society, the Netherlands
Obs.: Marco Langbroek LANMA
Date: 16-17 October 1999
Loc.: Voorschoten, the Netherlands, 52d 07' N, 4d 28' E
UT Teff Lm Ori Tau eGem Lmi Spo total Ori ZHR
0:55-2:00 0.98 6.5 3 5 0 1 10 19 4+-2
2:00-3:00 0.88 6.4 6 1 0 0 11 18 8+-3
3:12-4:35 1.25 6.4 3 0 2 0 20 25 3+-2
TOTAL 3.10 <6.4> 12 6 2 1 41 62 5+-1
strm/mag. 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 <m>
Sporadics 3 2 5 17 7 7 3.1
Orionids 0 0 1 2 6 3 3.8
Taurids 1 0 1 1 1 2 3.2
e Geminids 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.5
Leo minorids 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
>>>>>>>>>
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