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(meteorobs) Re: NWM2001Jan2/3 Quadrantids below expectations
After seeing 61/hour Quadrantids on this date in 1997 with the moon past LQ,
I was hoping to crack 70/hr this year in dark skies. But it didn't happen ;
a preliminary count off my written page shows about 35/hr at best. Lots of
faint ones, +4m to +6m, but not enough to make a grand display. The final
hour seemed to be dropping off after a fair showing the previous hour. One
fireball, at 417 AM EST (917 UT), an orange -5m Quadrantid with train 5
seconds. Sky LM was 7.3. More details later -- I have a full day ahead.
Approaching the observing site I saw a white-yellow -3m Quad northward out
the front just after turning off the highway. Exactly the same way a bright
Geminid was seen before arrival that night. The site is an isolated
cul-de-sac, but turning into it I saw another car all the way in. Backed
out and went to an alternate site 3 blocks further east. I didn't see any
activity around the car, and heard nothing while observing, so it might be a
junker. Will have to inspect the site in daylight to confirm. Somebody
dumped a load of trash, 2 couches and other stuff, on the side of the
approach road also. Bunch of slobs -- we have county pickup of trash ; it's
not necessary to dump it illegally.
It has been very cold for these parts. Probably high 30'sF this morning out
there and 40F in town. I made it for 3 hours. The past week has been the
longest unbroken cold period in 20 years, and it's not over with yet. The
amazing winter of 1980-81 saw the normal winter weather of Brunswick,
Georgia shift 400 miles southward to Fort Myers. Most people tend to move
to Florida leaving behind all their heavy clothes, thinking it is perpetual
summer here. Not quite -- you have to go about 150 miles further south to
find that. North Florida gets a bit of snow every few years.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
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