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(meteorobs) May 30 Observations from California USA



Our cloudy skies finally departed just in time to let me try to view any
activity from Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. I watched for 3 full hours and
counted 15 meteors. Not one of them could be associated with SW3. There
were 2 meteors from the antihelion radiant now located in southeastern
Ophiuchus. The north and south apex also produced one meteor each. 3
slow meteors intersected on the Libra/Scorpius border, close to the
position listed for the Omega Scorpids by the DMS. That leaves 8 meteors
with no probable association.

I was facing toward the west tonight with the possible SW3 radiant in
the lower portion of my field of view. Normally light pollution is bad
in this direction but this morning fog covered the city and the sky was
quite good down to about 10 degrees. Moonlight interfered slightly
during the first 20 minutes of the watch but at 1:50 the moon set behind
a hill in the west. The highlight of the night was a very slow -1
sporadic seen way down in the remote constellation of Telescopium. 

May 30, 2001

0830-0933 UT  1.00  6.67   1 ANT/SAG   0 SW3   4 SPO   5 TOTAL
0933-1035 UT  1.00  6.75   0 ANT/SAG   0 SW3   5 SPO   5 TOTAL
1035-1138 UT  1.00  6.48   1 ANT/SAG   0 SW3   4 SPO   5 TOTAL

TOTALS:       3.00  6.63   2 ANT/SAG   0 SW3  13 SPO  15 TOTAL
 
The first column provides the period watched in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column lists 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 average
limiting magnitude estimated during each period. The last several
columns list the activity seen during each period. I was facing
west at an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire session. No
breaks were taken. ANT/SAG = Antihelion/Sagittarids, SW3 = meteors from
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, and SPO = Sporadics (random activity). Moonset
occurred a 0850 (1:50 AM PDT)

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

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class 3 (Rural Sky)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   61 F (16 C)  44%
Ending         "         "         "       65 F (18 C)  36%

MAGNITUDES:  

ANT/SAG:    0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0)    AVERAGE: +2.00
SPO: -1 (2) 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (4) +4 (5) +5 (1)    AVERAGE: +2.85

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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