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(meteorobs) Orionids From Central Virginia
Both Friday morning and this morning (Saturday), I got a chance to see my
first Orionids of 2001. There really was not anything spectacular to see
in the way of fireballs. Hopefully on Sunday morning I can "bag" a few
of these in my longest session for the predicted maximum.
On Friday morning (October 18/19) I observed for one hour (0720 - 0820
UT) with the following results:
3 Orionids 3 South Taurids 1 North Taurid 9 Sporadics
Limiting Magnitude was 6.2 with 4 minutes of Dead Time recorded. Air
Temperature was right at freezing, so the electric blanket came in most
handy!
On Saturday morning (October 19/20) I observed for two hours (0620 - 0820
UT) with the following results:
0620-0720 UT 6 ORI 2 ST 1 Epsilon Geminid 3 Sporadics
Limiting Magnitude was 6.0 with 4 minutes of Dead Time recorded. Had to
deal with some cirrus clouds that were finally gone in the next hour of
observing. The air temperature was a good 8 - 10 degrees above freezing
for this session, but I still utilized the electric blanket (just call me
"spoiled").
0720-0820 UT 9 ORI 2 ST 1 NT 2 EG 4 Sporadics
Limiting Magnitude was 6.2 with 2 minutes of Dead Time recorded for this
hour.
These days I do most of my meteor observing from home (Latitude 37.45
degrees North/Longitude 079.10 degrees West). Most nights I can attain a
Limiting Magnitude of 6.2. Since being totally "spoiled" in my early
days of meteor observing (mid to late 1970's) with easy travel to 6.5
and 7.0 LM Skies, I will not even consider observing meteors unless I
have at least 6.0 magnitude skies. I look forward to reaching
"double-digit" hourly rates for the Orionids on Sunday morning (OCT
20/21) and possibly even "bagging" a fireball or two! Hope many of you
get to view the Orionid Maximum!! In Astronomical Affinity - Felix A.
Martinez
On Sat, 20 Oct 2001 15:55:19 -0400 KY <ksyo@pinelanddot net> writes:
> I observed for two hours teff this morning, trying out a new
> site that has poorer LM's but is much closer to home...the golf
> course
> on the edge of town. I was pleasantly suprised to find my L.M.s
> hovering near the +6.0 mark! Activity was OK but my Orionid rate
> stayed
> in the single digits for both periods. There was a flurry of three
> STA's between 8:20 and 8:22 UT, the first two occuring within eight
> or
> so seconds of each other. The magnitude range for most of the
> meteors
> stayed on the faint side all night. A somewhat unremarkable
> session,
> except for the fact that it was nice to be able to get back out
> under
> the skies and reacquaint myself with the constellations again. I
> don't
> usually face west as I did this morning, and it took me a few
> minutes to
> orient myself, especially after having observed so infrequently in
> the
> past few months.
>
> Kim Y.
> ***********************************************************
> OBSERVER: Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI) DATE:10-19/20-01
> BEGIN: 07:35UT END 09:40UT LOCATION: Treutlen Co, Ga.
> -82.384 W; 32.597 N METHOD: Tape
> Elev 250 ft Facing West
> 2 periods, sky 0% obscured, 0 breaks
>
> Period 1 07:35 - 08:38 UT
> SPO(9) ORI(5) NTA(2) STA(3)
> Dead time =1 min Teff = 1.03 F= 1.00
> Avg LM = +5.78
>
> Period 1 08:38 - 09:40 UT
> SPO(6) ORI(9) NTA(1)
> Dead time =2 min Teff = 1.00 F= 1.00
> Avg LM = +5.89
>
> Limiting Magnitudes
> 07:50 UT (IMO 8)+5.73 (IMO 17)+5.64
> 08:20 UT (IMO 8)+5.84 (IMO 17)+5.91
> 08:50 UT (IMO 8)+5.84 (IMO 17)+5.91
> 09:20 UT (IMO 8)+5.84 (IMO 17)+5.99
>
> Center FOV -(UT)
> 08:10 3hrs 20min +28
> 09:10 4hrs 30min +20
>
> Showers Observed
>
> ORI(14) 94 +16
> SPO(15)
> STA (2) 39 +11
> NTA (3) 38 +17
>
> Mag Distribution
> Period 1
> SPO(9) +2(2) +3(3) +4(2) +5(2)
> ORI(5) +2(1) +3(2) +4(2)
> NTA(2) +2(1) +3(1)
> STA(3) +3(2) +4(1)
>
> Period 2
> ORI(9) +1(1) +2(1) +4(5) +5(2)
> SPO(6) +1(2) +3(2) +4(2)
> NTA(1) +5(1)
>
>
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