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Re: (meteorobs) Geminid Meteors



Mr. Lunsford,

Where in the Mojave were you trying to go?  Is this a favorite location for 
you to go to?

Robert Warren


>From: Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa@home.com>
>Reply-To: meteorobs@atmob.org
>To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
>Subject: (meteorobs) Geminid Meteors
>Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 15:38:27 -0800
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>From owner-meteorobs-outgooing@atmob.org Fri, 14 Dec 2001 15:47:17 -0800
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>My expedition to the Mojave Desert to view the Geminids was canceled due
>to the flu bug. Skies were clear here on Dec. 12/13 but I was still
>running a fever so I decided to save all my efforts for the night of
>maximum activity. Thursday was mostly clear except for small strands of
>cirrus here and there. I had planned to watch from 10pm to 6am from Jim
>Foster's house out past Jamul. To make sure I stayed awake late tonight
>I took a good nap from 4 to 8pm. Before leaving I checked the satellite
>picture which revealed a fast moving cloud bank headed my way. I figured
>it would not arrive until midnight so I decided to still go for it.
>
>I arrived under good but cool conditions as ice soon formed on the
>sleeping bag. There must have been a thin layer of cirrus as I was only
>getting a limiting magnitude in the 6.1-6.2 range. Meteor activity was
>seen driving to to Jim's house and was producing a meteor every 45
>seconds or so when I started counting at 10pm. At 1030 it seemed to
>slack a bit as there were now longer gaps between meteors. The rates
>were still climbing though as the activity became more clustered.
>Clustered meaning 5 meteors would be seen one minute and then none for
>the next minute or two. I was facing east and there was a constant
>volley of Geminid activity between Leo and the Big Dipper. Many of these
>were quite bright up to magnitude -5. A couple of the brightest Gems
>even had trains. While most of the Geminids were pure white there where
>many notable meteors with yellow and orange hues. Yellow is not a good
>description for some of these as several were beyond yellow exhibiting a
>distinct golden color. Perhaps this is a mix of yellow and orange? I was
>also surprised on how many Geminids appeared close to the radiant, much
>more than usual it seemed.
>
>The expected clouds appeared on the scene at 1230 but were thin enough
>to allow observations to continue. Rates peaked between midnight and one
>o'clock. Observations continued until 0200 but the last hour saw
>thickening clouds which prevented me from seeing the fainter meteors.
>The limiting magnitude fell below +5.0 at 0200 so I suspended recording
>and just relaxed. By 0245 it was apparent the conditions would not
>improve so I then headed for home. Had I been in the desert I would not
>have seen a thing as the entire night was overcast there. It's raining
>right now so it appears this is all of the Geminids I will be seeing
>this year.
>
>U.T. TIME   TeFF    F    L.M.   GEMS   ANT   NPX   SPX   SPO  TOTAL
>
>0600-0700   1.00  1.00  +6.09    57     0     0     0     2     59
>
>0700-0800   1.00  1.00  +6.07    69     1     0     0     5     75
>
>0800-0900   1.00  1.00  +5.85    77     1     1     0     5     84
>
>0900-1000   1.00  1.00  +5.37    54     3     1     2     3     63
>
>TOTALS      4.00  1.00  +5.84   257     5     2     2    15    281
>
>Magnitudes:
>
>GEM: -5 (2)  -4 (3)  -3 (6)  -2 (7)  -1 (29)  0 (51)  +1 (56)
>      +2 (50) +3 (42) +4 (27)  +5 (8) +6 (0)                   AVE: +1.23
>
>ANT:       0 (1) +1 (3) +2 (0) +3 (1)  +4 (0)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +1.20
>NPX:       0 (1) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (0)  +4 (1)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.50
>SPX:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1)  +4 (0)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.50
>SPO:       0 (3) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (4)  +4 (5)  +5 (2) +6 (0)  AVE: +2.93
>The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
>If you are interested in complete links on the 2001 LEONIDS, see:
>http://www.meteorobs.org/storms.html
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