[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Re: NWM2000Oct23/24 Orionids below normal
A dark-sky visit to my good observing site 2000 Oct 23/24 didn't bring many
Orionids. In 2:06 hours with sky LM7.3 I recorded 38 total meteors. The two
hours 226 - 426 EDT (626 - 726 UT) had 14 and 10 Orionids, along with 3,1
South Taurids and 5,3 sporadics. Two other sporadics were seen before the
first full hour started. No other radiants produced anything : North
Taurids, South Andromedids, Leonids, Epsilon Geminids, or Leo Minorids.
Orionid magnitudes in the range -2m to +6m were 1,0,1,1,4,4,4,6,3 ; total
24. They averaged a faint 3.46m ; without the brightest one the average
drops to 3.70m. No wonder almost nothing was visible from town a couple of
days earlier. The bright component is almost completely missing this year.
The -2m Orionid was intense yellow with 2-second train.
The four South Taurids were mags 0,2,3,5. The brightest one was the night's
highlight : deep orange going 25 degrees in 3 seconds. With the radiant
nearly overhead that was an unusually long-lasting Taurid, looking like one
shot from a flare gun. Magnitudes of ten sporadics in the range 0m to +6m
were 2,0,2,3,0,2,1; averaging 2.90m.
Clouds ended observing at 426 ; I napped about 20 minutes and awoke to a
mostly clear sky. But I saw only 1 more meteor in the next 20 minutes when
it clouded over again, so that was it. There were fewer mosquitoes than I
expected -- October has gone bone-dry after a wet September.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html