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

(meteorobs) August 27, 2001 Meteor Observations From California

I had an entertaining 3 hour session before heading off to work this
morning. I was a bit late out the door so I stopped at the nearest
observing site so that I could start at the top of the hour. The marine
layer was fairly shallow and the light pollution in the west was bad. It
was a completely different picture toward the east as natural sky glow
was seen in that direction. This site has excellent horizons in every
direction but north. I am not able to see natural skyglow from my normal
site due to the low hills. 

The meteors kept me busy plotting during the entire session. There were
lots of faint stuff and nothing exceeded zero magnitude. There were even
3 left over Perseids to enjoy. The North Iota Aquarids were barely
present and the North Delta Aquarids were not seen at all. No early
Alpha Aurigids were seen either. The apex radiants were active producing
7 from the northern branch and 3 from the southern one.

The highlight of the night occurred at 3:14 PDT when a 1st magnitude
sporadic shot 20 degrees through Sculptor ending near 2nd magnitude
Ankaa (Alpha Phoenicis). It lasted 1.5 seconds.


August 27, 2001

0800-0900 UT   0.88  6.51   1 NIA  2 PER  2 NPX  0 SPX  11 SPO  16 TOTAL

0900-1000 UT   0.90  6.53   1 NIA  0 PER  3 NPX  2 SPX   8 SPO  14 TOTAL

1000-1100 UT   0.90  6.52   0 NIA  1 PER  2 NPX  1 SPX   9 SPO  13 TOTAL

TOTALS:        2.74  6.52   2 NIA  3 PER  7 NPX  3 SPX  28 SPO  43 TOTAL


The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 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 60 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were
taken. NIA = North Iota Aquarids, PER = Perseids, NPX = Northern Apex, 
SPX = Southern Apex, and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Alpine Viewpoint 116 37'30" W  32 50'18" N  ELE = 1000 m

Bortle Scale Estimate:  Class 4 (Rural/Suburban Transition)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   68 F (20 C)  20%
Ending         "         "         "       66 F (19 C)  15%

MAGNITUDES:  

NIA:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (1)    AVE: +5.00
PER:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +4.00
NPX:       0 (1) +1 (3) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (3) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +2.86
SPX:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.33
SPO:       0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (3) +3 (8)+4  (9) +5 (5) +6 (1)    AVE: +3.50



Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
To stop getting email from the 'meteorobs' list, use the Web form at:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html