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(meteorobs) Geminids Informal Report (Singapore)

Hi all,
        Just a little account of the Geminids last night and this early
morning in Singapore from 13/12/01 2320 hours to 14/12/01 0530 hours.

        Settling down at East Coast Park at about 2320 hours, not even a
few minutes later, the first Geminid was spotted. Another 2 minutes
later, one more. However, the first highlight was to arrive soon after.
The third Geminid seen at about 2335 hours was at least at a magnitude
of -4.0 (comparing to Jupiter nearby) that crossed through the whole of
Orion...brilliant! From then on, the meteors were dim and not really
significant. All of the meteors seen were white in colour...not yellow.
Wonder why...

        However, at about an 0100 hours plus (didn't note the
time...sorry), there came another beautiful short length Geminid. This
time, it originated and ended within Gemini itself...what was unique
about this was that it left a straight train initially but ended with a
zig zag train pattern. It was at a magnitude of about -3.0 and was quite
large. I find it very interesting...and thereafter, the usual small dim
meteors predominated.

        At about 0200 plus, there came a long straight -2.0 meteor that
seemed to originate from Puppis. Maybe it was a Zeta Puppid? Or a
sporadic? But whatever it was, it left a 1 second persistent
train...nice..dot besides that, were the usual dim meteors...;)

        At about 0323 hours, the most fantastic Geminid occurred..dot it
was a relatively large one as compared to all the rest...about twice the
size of Jupiter as seen from earth (relatively). This one burnt through
the atmosphere with such brilliance that I can only conclude that it was
at least a magnitude -5.0. A bolide (fireball)! It was about 10 degrees
in length...really magnificent...

        Sad to say, it was the last meteor to be seen as the clouds
started thickening at 0330 hours till 0430 hours. Then onwards, nothing
was noticed until 0450 hours when the clouds came back. So at 0530
hours, it was the end of the observation.

        Overall, my group spotted a total of 89 Geminids and 1 sporadic
(or Zeta Puppid) over 4 hours of observation. Average rate was about 22
per hour. This was in the heavily light polluted skies of Singapore (UT
+ 8 hours) and with a limiting magnitude of about 4.8 with reference to
31 Orionis (mag. 4.71).

        Well, it was a good night as compared to the Leonids where only
5 were seen due to heavy cloud cover throughout the night. If there
wasn't any clouds at 0330 hours, the total number of Geminids seen could
have hit 130 at least if we observed till 0600 hours.

        Ok, all the best for those still observing! Next one
up..Perseids!

Warmly,
Kelvin Seet


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