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(meteorobs) Mar 21, 2001 Meteor Observations From California



I had a nice 3 hour session from the mountains east of San Diego this
morning. There was some cirrus in the western sky but the sky above was
clear during the first two hours. During the last hour some thin cirrus
drifted overhead reducing the limiting magnitude but not causing any
problems otherwise. Overall I counted 24 meteors with 6 belonging to the
Virginid (antihelion) radiant and a surprising 2 members of the Gamma
Normids. Of the 16 sporadics seen one came from the northern apex
radiant and another came from the area between the two main apex
radiants. This could have been one of those rare apex meteors with an
inclination near zero. The highlight of the session was the second
meteor seen at 10:18 UT (02:18 PST). While making a star count in Virgo
I was lucky to catch a distinctly aqua (blue/green) fireball falling
slowly through Crater then through some cirrus along the southwest
horizon. The estimated magnitude was -6. The clouds actually enhanced
the view as the cloud lit up behind the meteor. I could have gone the
remaining 162 minutes without seeing a meteor and still would have been
satisfied with this session.

March 21, 2001

1000-1100 UT  0.94  1.00   6.32   1  GNO   2 VIR   5 SPO   8 TOTAL
1100-1200 UT  0.96  1.00   6.18   0  GNO   2 VIR   4 SPO   6 TOTAL
1200-1300 UT  0.94  1.00   5.90   1  GNO   2 VIR   7 SPO  10 TOTAL

TOTALS:       2.84  1.00   6.13   2  GNO   6 VIR  16 SPO  24 TOTAL
 
The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PST + 8 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
particular hour actually spent observing the sky. Time was lost for
plotting and data entry tonight. The third column gives the correction
for clouds. 1.00 is perfectly clear while higher numbers indicate a
higher percentage of blockage. The fourth column gives the average
limiting magnitude estimated during each period. The last several
columns list the activity seen during each period. I was facing south at
an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were
taken. GNO = Gamma Normids, VIR = Virginids (Antihelion Radiant) and SPO
= Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Pine Valley Viewpoint 116 29'43" W  32 49'49" N  ELE = 1300 m

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   49 F (9 C)  45%
Ending         "         "         "       48 F (9 C)  42%

MAGNITUDES:  

GNO:         0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (1) AVERAGE: +3.00
VIR:         0 (2) +1 (0) +2 (2) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +1.83
SPO:  -6 (1) 0 (0) +1 (2) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (3) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +2.13

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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