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(meteorobs) Re: Orionids absent from Florida

On the first of five nights of Orionid maximum, 2000 Oct 20/21, I saw a nice
casual white-blue 0m Orionid near midnight while lettting the dogs out back.
The sky was 70% cloudy at the time.  The meteor was seen mostly inside the
Jupiter-Saturn-Aldebaran triangle.  (In August I saw the moon fully interior
to the same triangle : the window of opportunity was only  two hours for
that.)  After 3 AM with sky mostly clear but hazy -- LM 3 near the moon, LM
4 elsewhere, during our late-night dog walk combined with nearly 10 minutes
back home watching the sky, neither of us saw a meteor at all.  Joan is
itching to see some meteors, but we are striking out almost completely this
year despite a fair amount of time outside on a casual basis.

The next night had good conditions.  We walked too early to really have a
chance to see an Orionid.  I went out at the prime time for 63 minutes in
the front yard with sky LM 5.  Covering 432 - 535 EDT  (832 - 935 UT)  I was
shooting for zero Orionids but did manage to see 2 of them late in the
session.  Total 5 meteors : Orionid mags 2,3 ; one South Taurid 3, one North
Taurid 3, one sporadic 3.  Field of view was restricted by 1/3 due to trees
and house -- lesser influence on me than most others as I see very little at
the edges of my field anyway.  The conditions should have allowed me to see
at least 10 Orionids, so what's going on?  One possibility is that they are
extremely faint this year.  My long-term average is only 3.40m for LM7.0
sky, so this is the year's faintest shower (tied with Delta Aquarids).

It could be a 1985-type shower with lots of +5m's and +6m's.  That year I
saw my best Orionid shower ever, 40 in one hour with sky LM7.3.  But nobody
else reported it at that strength, surely due to sky conditions alone.  By
coincidence Comet Halley was located right at the radiant.

I want to get out to the dark site for the final two max nights, Oct 23/24
and the next one.  There is too much to do on Monday so I have to skip the
present night, which is a bit hazy again but would be usable.  Similar
conditions should persist a while longer : breezy east wind, night sky
mostly clear, low temp mid-60'sF town and low-60's inland.  There will still
be mosquitoes outside town (urban areas get sprayed) until late November on
average, other than that, nights are pleasant for the first time since early
May.

Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society

Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com

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