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(meteorobs) Re: Joshua Tree Geminids 99
Don,
Thanks for the quick post! It was also a pleasure to enjoy the company
of you and your kids. Robert, that goes for you too!
Don, made it seem a bit blasé......dot california, clear skies, ho hum.
That was far from the case. The skies were terrible Monday afternoon
with think cirrus. The sunset was spectacular with all of these clouds
but prospects were dim of seeing anything at all. It was not worth
watching for Geminid earthgrazers so I slept until 10:00pm. When I awoke
the sky was now 3/4's clear. The sky was good and bad the remainder of
the night. Luckily most of the cirrus was thin so no blockage actually
occurred. When it reduced the LM below 5.0 I simply looked in another
direction. I lasted until 3:00am when I had to take a short nap. I
resumed counting at 3:30am and stopped at 5:30. Unfortunately I lost the
last half hour because I ran out of tape. How stupid! I guess we do
stupid things when we are sleep deprived. Anyway, I guess I saw in the
neighborhood of 300 meteors with a typical good Geminid display. I'm too
tired to listen to the tape at the moment.
As for highlights of the night, it seemed most of the Ohh's and Ahh's
were always behind me. That's OK as the rates were good and Don, Robert,
and the kids were all having a great time. I was fortunate enough to
witness the biggest "Ohh" of the night as an electric blue Geminid burst
just west of Orion with a tremendously bright flash. I initially
estimated it at -8 and after more thought was leaning toward -10, but
settled on -9. It was an excellent meteor that I hope I captured on film
as I had my 28mm lens centered on Orion at the time. Even if it missed
the flash against the thin clouds should be apparent.
More later.....dot it's time for some sleep.
Bob
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