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(meteorobs) Mar 27, 2001 Meteor Observations From California



I had another nice 3 hour session from the mountains east of San Diego
this morning. There were no clouds seen throughout this entire session.
Skies were clear all the way to the coast (50 miles to the west) which
bathed most of the western sky in light pollution, thus keeping my
limiting magnitude below normal for this site. Activity was impressive
for a March morning as I was kept busy during most of the 3 hours. Of
the 28 meteors recorded 2 were members of the antihelion (Virginid)
radiant. Of the remaining 26 sporadics 6 could be attributed to the
northern apex source and 1 to the southern apex source. There were a
couple of odd meteors seen tonight. At 2:57am PST (1057 UT) a very slow
4th magnitude meteor was caught in western Virgo traveling eastward. It
lasted 3 seconds while moving only 8 degrees. I first thought it was a
satellite but then looking directly at it revealed an obvious trail.
Then at 3:50am PST (1150 UT) a swift, arc shaped nebulous meteor was
seen traveling toward the southwest in Scorpius. Now I don't see many of
these types of meteors but this one was distinct as it appeared just
below the center of my vision. The highlight of the night occurred at
2:14am PST (1014 UT) when a nice yellow -4 fireball shot through the
head of Scorpius from the west leaving a short persistent train.

March 27, 2001

0947-1047 UT  0.92  1.00   6.38   1 VIR   9 SPO    10 TOTAL
1047-1147 UT  0.93  1.00   6.44   0 VIR   9 SPO     9 TOTAL
1147-1247 UT  0.93  1.00   6.40   1 VIR   8 SPO     9 TOTAL

TOTALS:       2.78  1.00   6.41   2 VIR  26 SPO    28 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. VIR = Virginids (Antihelion Radiant) and SPO = Sporadics (random
activity).

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

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class 4 (Rural/suburban transition)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   48 F (9 C)  46%
Ending         "         "         "       48 F (9 C)  45%

MAGNITUDES:  

VIR:         0 (2) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (2) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +4.00
SPO:-4 (1)-1 (1)  0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (5) +3 (5) +4 (8) +5 (5) +6(1)  
                                                      AVERAGE: +3.19   


Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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