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

(meteorobs) Star Party and early watch for Coma Berenicids



Hello list,

Last night was our monthly Hawaiian Astronomical Society star 
party at the Dillingham site on Oahu's north shore. As is typical for 
the fickle weather out here at sea level, it was clear and sunny in 
town, but overcast and rainy at the observing site! To make matters 
worse, we had a few busloads of students who came out to 
observe through all the big scopes - what a drag. Surely enough, 
after the last busload left in disgust, it cleared up enough to do 
some observing! So the remaining diehards got to see some nice 
sights under LM=6.3 The seeing was good. I saw an occultation of 
a Jovian satellite through a 18" Dob. Jupiter is at the Zenith here 
this time of year, and the surface details like the red spot and the 
knots in the bands are really sharp and clear. Several Sporadic and 
Anthelion meteors were seen.

Early in the evening, around 7:15pm many people saw a bright 
flashing in the sky above the solid cloud layer. It reminded me of 
the mega-fireball I saw last year and this may have been another 
smaller one, maybe around mag -10 or so?

Star parties being just that, I couldnt find an hour free time alone to 
do meteorobs, so on the drive back home I saw a nice clear 
opening in the clouds and observed for an hour near Mililani town. I 
saw no action from the proposed Coma Berenicids radiant at 12:32 
+22° My conditions were pretty good at LM=5.8 with the radiant at 
38°, so I should have seen something if it existed, but only saw 2 
Anthelions, 1 Gamma Velid and 5 SPO. Of course its still 3 days 
before the expected peak. But, worth a try anyway. Will try a more 
detailed session Tuesday night during the "peak".

Good Observing to all!
Mike.

REPORT FOLLOWS:
================
OBS: Mike Linnolt (LINMI)
DATE: Jan 21, 2001
TIME: 1045 - 1148 UT (12:45am - 01:48am HST morning of Jan 21)
LOC: near Mililani, Oahu, HI (21° 27' N, 157° 59m W)
ELEV: 150m
Conditions: Mostly Clear. Temp 67F. RH 50%. Winds calm.
METHOD: Paper


Observing Periods Summary:
==========================

# Period(UT) FOV Teff F LM  CM? GVE AHY COM APXs DCA SPO
  ----------  ---   ----  -   ---  --- --- --- --- ---  --- ---
1 1045-1148  10h+10 1.00 1.06 5.8   0   1   0   0   0    2   5

*CM? = Possible "Coma Berenicids" radiant at 12:32 +22°
*APX (north) = COM (IMO designation)
*ANT = DCA (IMO)

Periods Detail:
===============

Period #1:
----------

Mag -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6      elev  r  ZHR
------------------------------------------------------
CM?: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0   38° 
GVE: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  1  0  0 = 1   18° 2.5  6.5 +/-6.5
AHY: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0   55°
COM: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0   13°
APXs 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0    1°
DCA: 0  0  0 0  0  1  0  1  0  0 = 2   84° 3.0  4.6 +/-3.2
SPO: 0  0  0 0  0  0  2  1  2  0 = 5       2.5 10.1 +/-4.5

DEAD TIME: 3 min

Note: 

END OF REPORT.

To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html

Follow-Ups: