[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Re: Ursids in 1960 1979 1996
In 1960 I had a brief look at the Ursids from Miami on the morning of
December 22. The alarm clock failed me, so I woke up accidently and got
only 15 minutes of observing 550 - 605 AM EST but saw 8 meteors. I think
all but one were Ursids. The sky was quite dark in those days, better than
LM6.0 only a mile south of downtown. It was also a cold, clear night,
temperature about 40oF for the low. I have long felt some disappointment
about not getting more time in that night, for I have never seen that many
Ursids in so short a period since. It could have been my fault with the
clock. This was a Saturday morning, first day of Christmas vacation.
Friday night was a very long evening, 630 to 1100 PM at the formal dinner
dance of the local Cotillion group. A rite of passage for a bunch of us at
the age of 14. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I could get to sleep
near midnight.
For 1979 Dec 21/22 observing 1226 - 526 EST (526 - 1026 UT) I saw 0,0,2,2,0
Ursids in sky LM 7.0. Next night in 3 hours, 223-523 EST, Ursids 0,3,1 in
sky LM 7.0.
In 1996 I wrote this :
>Was lucky to get Dec 21/22 clear after several cloudy days. The dark period
>after moonset 451-612 EST (951-1112 UT) lasted 1.35 hours with sky LM 7.0.
>In that time were 5 Ursids, 1 Sigma Hydrid, 1 Coma Berenicid, 2
>Puppid-Velids just seconds apart, and 11 sporadics.
So most years not much happens. But Ursids are getting rather unfavorable
from my latitude. The radiant gets only a bit over 30 degrees high at best
from here.
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