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(meteorobs) Leonids from southern Ohio
My eyeballs feel as though they've been pickled in
rubbing alcohol. The inside of my head feels like it
has been scrubbed with coarse sandpaper. I suffer
temporary narcolepsy. Obviously, I am suffering a
Meteor Shower Hangover. And though my gears are gummed
up with grit and treacle, I seem to recall 2 nights of
frost, on me and smeared across the sky. And meteors.
While poets and scientists scrambled for data and
metaphors, my wife and I made for southern Ohio, where
the Milky Way, an anachronism in these
neon-illuminated times, yet clouds the night sky. We
hoped for 2 nights of stellar frivolity.
Napping fitfully during the evenings, when the
darkness was soiled by the moon's polished silvery
glare, we managed a modicum of rest. Rising around
midnight, we covered ourselves with layers of clothing
and stiffly shuffled outside, stepping off the porch
of this rented cabin, into the lap of Orion.
- Can anyone remain unmoved by the sight of
magnificent Orion? -
Not surprisingly, there was no storm of meteors over
Ohio. There was a nice display of impossibly swift
Leonids, most of which displayed trains. Many were
tinted with yellow, or orange, or green..
There were numerous odds and ends: several blobs of
bright white light we call Taurids, a faint sporadic
which blazed across the sky like a fiery red comet, a
powder-blue ghostly flame which dropped heavily out of
the sky, small pieces of light tossed here and there
at random, the occasional mercury-like drip of
light........
.....and each ephemeral burst of light was a
joy..........
And then there were numbers......
Observer: Gregg M. Pasterick
Location: Adams County, Ohio
38degrees 51' North
83degress 31' West
Nov 17, 1999
Begin/End Time (UT)Teff Lmag F Leonids other total
6:18 - 7:17 0.98 +6.0 1 5 13 19
7:18 - 8:17 0.98 +6.0 1 6 9 15
8:38 - 10:12 1.53 +6.0 1 19 11 30
Nov 18, 1999
Begin/End Time (UT)Teff Lmag F Leonids other total
5:40 - 6:39 0.97 +5.0 1 15 4 19
6:40 - 7:39 0.97 +6.0 1 19 5 24
7:55 - 8:54 0.95 +6.0 1 37 2 39
8:55 - 9:54 0.95 +6.0 1 36 3 39
Leonid Magnitude Distrubtion
+6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4
6 12 9 18 28 30 19 11 1 2 1
Avg. Mag.: +1.77
Leonids Color Distribution
White: 95
Blue: 15
Green: 3
Yellow: 14
Orange: 9
Red: 1
=====
TRYIN' A MESSAGE BOARD THROUGH MY WEB PAGE....GO TO.....
- http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/4242
Ring Leader of the Planet Ohio Nature Sites Web Ring
- http://pages.prodigy.com/daddy
Overseer of the Planet Ohio mail list for Ohio Nature Lovers
- http://www.egroups.com/list/ohio-nature
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