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(meteorobs) East GA Geminids

     The evening started with absolutely no promise.  I continuously checked
the satellite images and each hour things seemed worse, as the rain outside
continued to fall.   A diehard none the less, I drove in the light rain to my site
at 12:00, only to be back home by 1:30, thoroughly disgusted!  Another satellite
image check seemed to confirm my worst fears -- the entire southern portion of
the state was socked-in!
   I looked out at 3:00, but no stars.  At 4:00, I did see twinkles of light
in the sky so I rushed out into the yard.  Although more than 50% of the sky
was clouded out, I saw 11 meteors in 14 minutes.  Fired up,  I took a gamble and
drove --no, flew -- the 17 miles out to my site, cops and deer be d----!
    Somehow, someway, I managed to arrive to a perfectly clear sky.
The only clouds were so low on the eastern horizon they were behind
the distant tree line.  Nothing but meteors, stars, and Messier objects were
in my FOV!  I saw three Gems headed for the eastern horizon as soon as I got
out of my car.  A little prayer of thanks was followed by, probably, my best
hour of meteor observing, ever!  If I include those three unlogged horizon
beauties, I saw 101 meteors in 73 minutes.  71 minutes of Teff yielded 78 GEM's,
17 SPO's, and 3 HYD's. 
     I had a mix of bright and dim GEM's.  I was surprised by the relative lack of
persistent trains.  A few of the peripheral/horizon meteors proved difficult to
trace back.
   It was still quite dark when I left at 6:03 local time.  I had too much to do at
work today to be a sleepy-head, but I at last saw the Geminids at maximum, and they didn't disappoint!
_________
On a different note, hats off to Pierre Martin for being named among the top twenty observers in the current issue of WGN!!
 
***********************************************************
OBSERVER Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)
BEGIN 9:50UT  END 11:03UT  LOCATION:  Treutlen Co, Ga.
82. 24' 25" W;  32. 24' 45" N
METHOD: Tape/Counting    Elev 240 ft
Facing South
1 periods, sky 0% obscured

Period 1  9:50-11:03UT  SPO C(17) GEM C(78) HYD C(3)
Dead time = 2 min  Teff = 1.18
 
Limiting Magnitudes
10:00 UT  (IMO 4)+6.54  (IMO 9)+6.43
10:30 UT  (IMO 4)+6.54  (IMO 9)+6.43
 
Center FOV (UT)
 09:50  10hr10min     +12
 11:00  11hr20min     +14
 

Showers Observed
GEM(78)  110   +33
HYD(3)   127   +02
MON(/)   Not Observed 
SPO(17)

Mag Distribution
09:51-10:05UT
GEM(20)         0(1) +1(1)  +2(8)  +3(5)  +4(2) +5(3)
SPO(3)                      +2(1)         +4(1) +5(1)
HYD(0)

10:06-10:25UT
GEM(20)   -2(1) 0(1) +1(1)  +2(4)  +3(10) +4(1) +5(1)  +6(1)
HYD(2)                      +2(2)
SPO(5)                      +2(3)  +3(1)  +4(1)

10:26-10:43UT
GEM(21)         0(2) +1(5)  +2(5)  +3(3)  +4(3)  +5(3)
HYD(0)
SPO(4)                      +2(1)         +4(1)  +5(2)

10:43-11:03
GEM(17)      -1(2) 0(1) +1(7)  +2(5)  +3(6)  +4(9)  +5(7)
HYD(1)                                       +4(1)
SPO(5)                         +2(1)  +3(3)         +5(1)

Period 1 (Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed)
01  09:51   GEM   +2  3
02  09:52   GEM   +3  3
03  09:53   GEM   +2  3
04  09:53   GEM   +4  3
05  09:53   GEM   +2  3
06  09:54   GEM   +2  3
07  09:54   GEM   +3  3
08  09:54   GEM   +5  3
09  09:54   GEM   +3  3
10  09:55   GEM   +1  4  brief train
11  09:55   GEM   +2  3
12  09:56   GEM   +2  3
13  09:57   GEM   +5  2  near radiant
14  09:57   GEM   +3  3
15  09:58   SPO   +4  3
16  09:59   GEM   +2  3
17  10:00   SPO   +2  2
18  10:01   GEM   +5  3
19  10:01   GEM   +3  2  near radiant/foreshortened
20  10:03   SPO   +5  2
21  10:04   GEM   +0  3
22  10:04   GEM   +2  3
23  10:05   GEM   +4  4
24  10:06   GEM   +3  3
25  10:06   GEM    0  3
26  10:07   GEM   -2  3  train
27  10:07   SPO   +4  3
28  10:10   GEM   +2  3
29  10:12   GEM   +2  3
30  10:12   SPO   +3  5
31  10:13   GEM   +3  3
32  10:13   GEM   +2  3
33  10:13   GEM   +4  3
34  10:13   HYD   +2  4  2 sec train
35  10:13   GEM   +3  3
36  10:15   GEM   +3  3
37  10:16   GEM   +6  3
38  10:16   GEM   +5  3
39  10:17   GEM   +3  3
40  10:17   GEM   +3  3
41  10:17   SPO   +2  1
42  10:17   SPO   +2  5
43  10:17   GEM   +3  3
44  10:19   HYD   +2  4  2 sec train
45  10:19   GEM   +3  3
46  10:21   GEM   +3  3
47  10:22   SPO   +2  2
48  10:23   GEM   +2  2
49  10:25   SPO   +3  3
50  10:25   GEM   +1  3
51  10:26   GEM   +5  3
52  10:26   GEM    0  3
53  10:26   GEM   +5  3
54  10:27   GEM   +4  3
55  10:28   GEM   +2  3
56  10:28   GEM   +4  3
57  10:29   SPO   +5  4
58  10:29   GEM   +2  3
59  10:31   GEM   +2  3
60  10:32   SPO   +5  4
61  10:34   GEM   +3  3
62  10:34   GEM   +2  2  near radiant
63  10:35   GEM   +3  3
64  10:35   GEM   +1  3  train
65  10:37   SPO   +2  5
66  10:38   GEM   +2  3
67  10:38   GEM   +1  3
68  10:38   GEM   +4  3
69  10:39   GEM   +1  4
70  10:39   GEM   +5  3
71  10:40   GEM   +1  3
72  10:43   GEM    0  3
73  10:43   SPO   +4  3
74  10:43   GEM   +3  4
75  10:43   GEM   +1  3
76  10:44   GEM   +2  4
77  10:45   GEM    0  3
78  10:45   SPO   +3  5
79  10:47   GEM   +2  3  train
80  10:47   SPO   +2  4
81  10:47   GEM   +1  3
82  10:49   GEM   +2  3
83  10:49   GEM    0  4  long path
84  10:49   GEM   +4  3
85  10:50   SPO   +3  3
86  10:50   SPO   +3  2
87  10:50   GEM   +5  3
88  10:51   GEM   +2  3
89  10:52   GEM   +1  4
90  10:52   GEM   +4  3
91  10:55   GEM   +3  3
92  10:55   GEM   -1  3
93  10:55   GEM   +2  3
94  10:56   GEM   +3  3
95  10:59   HYD   +4  4
96  11:00   SPO   +5  2
97  11:01   GEM   +2  3
98  11:03   GEM   +4  3

No fireballs seen.  Only 1+ hrs teff due to clouds prior to session.
Noticeble lack of persistant trains.