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(meteorobs) August 29, 2001 Meteor Observations From California

My last observing session for August was quite entertaining despite the
waxing gibbous moon being above the horizon for the first hour and one
half. 14 meteors were seen during this moonlit portion including an
impressive -4 yellow rare North Iota Aquarid fireball that shot through
Cygnus. During the remaining 150 minutes after moon set 35 more meteors
were seen. The brightest meteors seen during this period was only first
magnitude. I was surprised to see one meteor each line up perfectly with
the antihelion radiant (now located in Pisces) and a Pi Eridanid. Both
of these meteors had velocities matching the predicted figures for
altitude and radiant distance. A lone Perseid was also seen close to the
radiant in Camelopardalis. The Alpha Aurigids came alive during the last
2 hours producing 5 meteors. 3 of these meteors were heading west into
Perseus and Cassiopeia while the other 2 headed north toward Polaris.
Both apex radiants were active with the northern brach producing 7
meteors and the southern branch 3. The radiant for the northern branch
is less than 20 degrees from the Alpha Aurigid and it would be easy for
observers to call these meteors AUR's if the radiant was not in one's
field of view. Both sources produce meteors with similar velocities
(swift if seen away from the radiant). Obviously the -4 NIA fireball was
the highlight of the night. It was the 5th meteor seen. It traveled 20
degrees in 1.5 seconds and ended with an impressive terminal burst. This
meteor was a vivid yellow even before the final burst. 

August 29, 2001


0800-0900 UT   0.93  6.00   0 ANT  0 AUR  0 ERI  1 NIA  0 PER  0 NPX  
                                                 0 SPX  9 SPO  10 TOTAL

0900-1000 UT   0.90  6.22   0 ANT  0 AUR  1 ERI  0 NIA  1 PER  3 NPX  
                                                 1 SPX  7 SPO  13 TOTAL

1000-1100 UT   0.90  6.40   1 ANT  2 AUR  0 ERI  1 NIA  0 PER  2 NPX  
                                                 1 SPX  8 SPO  15 TOTAL

1100-1200 UT   0.86  6.38   0 ANT  3 AUR  0 ERI  0 NIA  0 PER  2 NPX  
                                                 1 SPX 15 SPO  21 TOTAL

TOTALS:        3.59  6.25   1 ANT  5 AUR  1 ERI  2 NIA  1 PER  7 NPX  
                                                 3 SPX 39 SPO  59 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 north at
an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were
taken. ANT = Antihelion radiant, AUR = Alpha Aurigids, ERI = Pi
Eridanids, NIA = North Iota Aquarids, PER = Perseids, NPX = Northern
Apex, 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 Sky Site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   59 F (15 C)  23%
Ending         "         "         "       56 F (13 C)  17%

Moon set occurred at 0929 UT

MAGNITUDES:  

ANT:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0)  +4 (0)  +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +5.00
AUR:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (3)  +4 (2)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.40
ERI:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0)  +4 (1)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +4.00
NIA:      -4 (1) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0)  +4 (0)  +5 (1) +6 (1)  AVE: +0.50
PER:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0)  +4 (0)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.00
NPX:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (3)  +4 (2)  +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.29
SPX:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (2) +3 (0)  +4 (1)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.67
SPO:      -2 (1) +1 (3) +2 (6) +3 (12) +4 (13) +5 (3) +6 (1)  AVE: +3.13


Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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