[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(meteorobs) Tallahassee Observations 03-04/05-00

     This past weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the 2000
American Meteor Society staff workshop in Tallahassee, Florida.
No one there was surprised that I was eager to observe the very
first night, though everyone was tired and no observations had been
scheduled for Thursday.  Yet given the tenuousness of the weather forecasts,
four of us did go out for an "until-dawn" session.
     I was not prepared to face east at such late, pre-dawn hours.
Plotting proved difficult for me as I was quite unfamilair with the
section of the sky.  I finally gave up and settled in for counting/recording,
but since I could only take star counts from one known IMO field, even this
proved a bit pointless, except for the fun of it.  Regardless, I saw 25
meteors between 8:28 and 11:54 UT.  To top it off, I saw a -1 on the very
brim of the horizon as we were all packing up to leave, a fireball in disguise
given the high magnitude extiction at such low elevations.
     Clouds spoiled the planned observations for Friday night, but six
of us did make it out to the FSU observatory east of Tallahassee for
Sat/Sun.  Better prepared and facing a more familiar area of the sky,
I put in 2.4 hrs of teff and plotted 13 out of 21 meteors seen before
sheer exhaustion forced me to crawl deep into my sleeping bag and nap
a bit.  Lew, Wayne, Jim, Bob, and Pete kept at their respective tasks,
however, be it plotting, counting, identifying Floridian faunal sounds,
or just staring at Centaurus at such southerly extremes.  I poked my head
out of my blanket and casually observed for the final hour or so.
   The highlight of the night, I think all would agree, was a -2 blue meteor
with a 1-2 sec train and a nice 30+ degree path length that soared out of
Virgo directly into everyone's field of view.
Kim S. Youmans
******************************************************

OBSERVER:  Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI)  DATE:03-04/05-00
BEGIN: 06:13UT  END7:35UT  LOCATION:East of Tallahassee, FL
83.99 W; 30.45" N   METHOD: Tape
Facing South
2 periods, sky 0% obscured, No breaks

Period 1  05:13 - 06:13 UT  SPO(9)
Dead time =4 min  Teff = 0.93  F= 1.00
SolarLong. 344.965x Avg LM = 6.52

Period 2  06:13 - 07:35 UT  SPO(10) VIR(2)
Dead time = 5 min  Teff = 1.28  F= 1.00
SolarLong. 344.014x  Avg LM = 6.57

Limiting Magnitudes
05:34 UT  (IMO 3)+6.54  (IMO 9)+6.52
06:05 UT  (IMO 3)+6.49  (IMO 9)+6.52
06:39 UT  (IMO 3)+6.49  (IMO 9)+6.61
07:00 UT  (IMO 3)+6.35  (IMO 9)+6.81
07:30 UT  (IMO 3)+6.49  (IMO 9)+6.67

Center FOV - Midperiod (UT)
Period 1  11hrs 20min +17
Period 2  12hrs 10min +15

Showers Observed
VIR(2)   182x   +2x
DLE(0)   176X   +14x
SPO(18)

Mag Distribution
Period 1
SPO(9)             +1(2)  +2(2) +3(2)+4(2) +5(1)

Period 2
VIR(2)        0(1)                   +4(1)
SPO(10)  -2(1)     +1(2)  +2(3) +3(2)+4(1)       +6(1)

Meteor Data
Period 1
(Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed, Accuracy/plot #)
01  05:20   SPO   +1      2     N/A
02  05:22   SPO   +5      2      1      1
03  05:32   SPO   +2      3     N/A
04  05:37   SPO   +4      2     N/A
05  05:43   SPO   +2      3      2      2
06  05:47   SPO   +3      3      1      3
07  06:01   SPO   +1      3     N/A
08  06:03   SPO   +3      4      2      4
09  06:09   SPO   +4      2      3      5

Period 02
(Time UT, Shower, Mag, Speed, Accuracy/plot #)
10  06:18   SPO   +6      2      1      6
11  06:20   VIR    0      2      1      7
12  06:23   SPO   +3      3      N/A
13  06:26   SPO   +1      4      N/A
14  06:30   SPO   -2      3      2      8  see remarks
15  06:35   SPO   +4      5      1      9
16  06:47   SPO   +3      3      N/A
17  07:02   SPO   +2      4      1      10
18  07:06   SPO   +2      3      2      12
19  07:19   SPO   +1      2      3      13
20  07:23   VIR   +4      3      1      14
21  07:30   SPO   +2      4      N/A

Remarks: I "skipped" meteor plot#11 due to forgetfulness.
Meteor 14 was a fine -2, blue, with a 1.5 sec train and at least a 30x
path length.
 

Accuracy scale(1-3) 1/best 2/medium 3/worst