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(meteorobs) July 18, 2001 Meteor Observations From California

I watched for a full 4 hours under pristine skies this morning. The
stratus layer was thick and hardly a trace of light pollution was
visible. The entire sky was frosted with stars right down to the
horizon. The zodiacal band was easily visible as was M33. Magnitude 6.0
stars were also seen without adverted vision. This is about as good as
it gets around here. Comet A2 Linear was an easy naked eye object with
an impressive 3 degree tail as seen through 11X80 binoculars. The meteor
activity was not too bad either. I counted a total of 53 meteors during
the 4 hours. There were no real surprises except for the 14 meteors from
the apex area, a bit more than I expected. Again there were also no
exceptionally bright meteors seen. The brightest being a -2 from the
southern apex that shot through northern Aquarius. This is what meteor
observing is all about!

July 18, 2001

0730-0830 UT   0.91  6.94    1 ACG 1 ANT 2 CAP 0 NDA 3 NPX 0 PAU 
                             0 PER 1 SDA 1 SPX 5 SPO  14 TOTAL

0830-0930 UT   0.93  6.90    1 ACG 3 ANT 0 CAP 0 NDA 2 NPX 0 PAU 
                             0 PER 0 SDA 0 SPX 2 SPO  8 TOTAL

0930-1030 UT   0.89  6.92    0 ACG 0 ANT 3 CAP 2 NDA 2 NPX 0 PAU 
                             1 PER 2 SDA 3 SPX 1 SPO  14 TOTAL

1030-1130 UT   0.88  6.93    2 ACG 2 ANT 1 CAP 0 NDA 1 NPX 0 PAU 
                             2 PER 0 SDA 2 SPX 7 SPO  17 TOTAL

TOTALS:        3.61  6.92    4 ACG 6 ANT 6 CAP 2 NDA 8 NPX 0 PAU 
                             3 PER 3 SDA 6 SPX 15 SPO  53 TOTAL

The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PST + 7 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 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 70 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were
taken. ACG = Alpha Cygnids, ANT = (Anthelion Radiant), CAP = Alpha
Capricornids, NDA = North Delta Aquarids, NPX = Northern Apex, PAU
= Pisces Austrinids, PER = Perseids, SDA = South Delta Aquarids, SPX =
Southern Apex, and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

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

Bortle Scale Estimate:  Class 2 (Typical truly dark site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   57 F (14 C)  23%
Ending         "         "         "       58 F (14 C)  12%

MAGNITUDES:  

ACG:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (2) AVERAGE: +3.50
ANT:      +1 (0) +2 (2) +3 (1) +4 (2) +5 (0) +6 (1) AVERAGE: +3.50
CAP:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (1) AVERAGE: +3.00
NDA:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (2) +4 (0) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +3.00
NPX:      -1 (1)  0 (1) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (3) AVERAGE: +2.37
PER:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (0) AVERAGE: +3.00
SPX:      -2 (1)  0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (0) AVERAGE: +1.17
SPO:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (4) +4 (5) +5 (3) AVERAGE: +3.47

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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