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(meteorobs) December 22 Meteor Observations from California

I had a short session this morning to view the Ursid activity. The
problem was that I did not see a single Ursid in the 2 hours I was out!
This is very odd for the night of maximum activity. Reports from further
east indicate falling rates so it seems that there was nothing left for
me to see! It would be interesting to see what was seen of this shower
from European longitudes. My understanding is that many European sites
had bad weather so we may be in the dark as to the 2001 Ursid activity
curve. There was two nice representatives of the Northern Apex and a few
sporadics to keep me awake. Certainly not very impressive totals for a
mid December night.

December 22, 2001

1111-1214 UT  1.00  6.75  0 ANT 0 URS 0 NPX 0 SPX  5 SPO   5 TOTAL

1214-1317 UT  1.00  6.46  0 ANT 0 URS 2 NPX 0 SPX  6 SPO   8 TOTAL

TOTALS:       2.00  6.60  0 ANT 0 URS 2 NPX 0 SPX 11 SPO  13 TOTAL

The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PST + 8 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, URS = Ursids, NPX = Northern Apex, SPX
= Southern Apex, and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Deerhorn Valley 116 45' 21" W  32 41' 21" N  ELE = 667 m

Bortle Scale Estimate:  Class 2 (Typical Truly Dark Sky Site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   32 F (0 C)  64%
Ending         "         "         "       31 F (-1 C) 80%

MAGNITUDES:

NPX:      -2 (1) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (0)  +4 (0)  +5 (0) +6 (0)  AVE: -0.50
SPO:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (4) +3 (3)  +4 (3)  +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.09

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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