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(meteorobs) September 18, 2001 Meteor Observations From California



I watched for 4 hours from the local mountains this morning. The marine
layer was quite thick effectively blocking most of the light pollution
from San Diego. Yet the skies were not outstanding and the LM's not
superb. The meteor rates were also lower than one might have expected.
The antihelion radiant in Pisces was very active producing 9 meteors
during the session. The September Perseids were a close match producing
7 meteors. I was facing south so I most likely missed a majority of this
activity. My main goal of the session was trying to confirm any activity
from the Kappa Aquarids. I managed to see 1 possible member, nothing
else was close. The apex radiants were also active producing 5 from the
northern branch and 4 from the southern branch. The highlight of the
session would have been a -4 fireball from the northern apex except I
was looking over to the east making a star count in Taurus. This
fireball shot through the southern sky and was not well seen. The
resulting train made the plot and identification easy. The actual
highlight of the night was a dim antihelion meteor that crawled through
Eridanus stretching some 30 degrees and lasting an estimated 5 seconds.
It brightened and faded several times but was never brighter than 3rd
magnitude. As I was leaving the cone of zodiacal light in the east was
impressive stretching all the way up to Jupiter, now located in Gemini.  

September 18, 2001


0800-0900 UT  0.93  6.64  3 ANT 1 KAQ 1 SPR 0 NPX 0 SPX  4 SPO   9 TOTAL

0900-1000 UT  0.92  6.68  1 ANT 0 KAQ 1 SPR 1 NPX 3 SPX  5 SPO  11 TOTAL

1000-1100 UT  0.91  6.72  3 ANT 0 KAQ 2 SPR 4 NPX 0 SPX  2 SPO  11 TOTAL

1100-1200 UT  0.91  6.64  2 ANT 0 KAQ 3 SPR 0 NPX 1 SPX  7 SPO  13 TOTAL

TOTALS:       3.67  6.68  9 ANT 1 KAQ 7 SPR 5 NPX 4 SPX 18 SPO  44 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 (Piscids), KAQ = Kappa Aquarids, SPR = 
September Perseids (Delta Aurigids), 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:   56 F (13 C)  26%
Ending         "         "         "       53 F (11 C)  22%

MAGNITUDES:  

ANT:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (3)  +4 (2)  +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.00
KAQ:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0)  +4 (0)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.00
SPR:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (5)  +4 (2)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.29
NPX:      -4 (1) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (0)  +4 (2)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +1.40
SPX:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (3)  +4 (1)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.25
SPO:       0 (1) +1 (0) +2 (3) +3 (7)  +4 (6)  +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.11


Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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