(meteorobs) Geminids in Hawaii mostly a washout

To: meteorobs@atmob.org
Subject: (meteorobs) Geminids in Hawaii mostly a washout
From: mlinnolt@alum.mitdot edu
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 03:58:19 -0500 (EST)
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Well, Hawaii is supposed to have the best weather to keep tourists happy on their vacations, but this week a nasty low pressure system came over the island chain just in time for the Geminids. It clouded up pretty solid Wednesday evening and remains so up till now. Nevertheless, my friend and I decided to head out to a dark spot on the north shore of Oahu for the peak Thursday evening. We spent approx. 3 hours under mostly clouded out and showery skies.

But, miraculously a small opening developed at 9:45pm allowing a 15min period to be completed. Even so, it was a very poor one, with highly variable LM and F.

Still, 5 meteors were seen, including 2 bright GEM's. In fact, that calculates out to a ZHR of ~100, kind of exactly as expected for near the peak time.

After 10pm it clouded up totally and remained so until we gave up around midnight. I was hoping to see a bright bolide, enough to light up through the thick layer of cloud, but nothing like that came.

But, after the outstanding Leonids just 3 weeks ago, I can't complain too much. So, on to the Ursids and Quads...

Mike Linnolt

REPORT FOLLOWS
==============
OBS: Mike Linnolt (LINMI)
DATE: Dec 14, 2001
TIME: 0745 - 0802 UT (9:45pm-10:02pm HST evening of Dec 13/14)
LOC: Mokuleia, Oahu, HI (21° 34' N, 158° 12m W)
ELEV: 5m
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy/showers. Temp 70F. RH 90%. Winds moderate.
METHOD: Paper


Observing Periods Summary:
==========================

# Period(UT) FOV   Teff  F  LM   GEM  HYD  MON  XOR  SPO
  ---------- ---   ----  -  ---  ---  ---  ---  ---  ---
1 0745-0802 03h+20 0.27 2.5 5.5   2    0    0    1    2

XOR (IMO) = ANT

Periods Detail:
===============

Period #1:
----------

Mag -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6      elev  r   ZHR
---------------------------------------------------
GEM: 1  1  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 2   29° 2.6  99.3
HYD: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0    2°
MON: 0  0  0 0  0  0  0  0  0  0 = 0   29°
XOR: 0  0  0 0  1  0  0  0  0  0 = 1   38°
SPO: 0  0  0 0  0  0  1  0  1  0 = 2   --

DEAD TIME: 1 min

Note: This period was characterized by significant cloud cover but holes in the zenith area representing about 30-50% clear. LM fluctuated from 6.2 to less than 5.0, so estimates of LM and F are fairly rough. 

END OF REPORT.

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