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(meteorobs) Moonlit Quads report from KS, USA Jan 3rd am



Am in from my usually dark-sky site 28.5 miles S of Overland Park KS,
which was not like it usually is with the waning gibbous moon.
Temp. was -8 C., no wind, heavy frost was not a factor, and I stayed
relatively comfortable during the session heavily layered and in sleeping
bag.  Faced NE entire time, first two observing periods at 45 degrees
relative angle, last 15 min. count into morning twilight was at 65 degrees..

Was NOT impressed by Quadrantid rates, at this time I suspect activity
just might indeed be late this year, only one clustering of Quads. in the 
1:45 teff., about 7 seconds apart both shooting overhead toward the 
zenith, mag. 3 practically identical meteors.  Best two were yellow 0 and
-1 Quadrantids, spread far apart at around 510 and 603 am., the -1 was
the only train-leaver of the night, with a one and a half second train.

0450-0520 CST -  4 Q, 1 NPX, 3 Spor.   zs 4.7
0520-0620 CST - 15 Q, 1 ANT, 1 Spor    zs 4.8
0620-0635 CST -   3 Q, 1 NPX, 4 Spor    twilight encroaching steadily 
                                                           zs 4.6 to 4.1

The ANT was a beauty, slowly heading E through the Big Dipper, running
the entire length of it plus 5 degrees each side.

Of the Quads, had a mag 2 Yellow, mag 0 Yellow, mag 2 Bluish, 
-1 Yellow, mag 2 Bluish, mag 1 Yellowish,  Mag 2 Blue,  and the final
Quad in the twilight at 634 am local time was Bluish.

I set out tonight to run another little project on the Quads, since I knew
moonlight was going to restrict me to NE viewing.  I watched basically
directly at the radiant during the entire session, and recorded the 
following areas of appearance of the 22 Quadrantids, by the hands of
the clock, with any of the grouping 145 to 230 clock position appearance
of emination showing as 2 o'clock in this report.  I only recorded this
info. to the quarter-hour of apparent emination, by the way.

Kind of interesting results - 
12 O'clock (heading straight overhead w/my facing NE) - 2 Quads
1 position - 2 Quads
2 position - 0
3 position - 4 Quads
4 position - 5 Quads
5 position - 0
6 position - 0
7 position - 3 Quads
8 position - 4 Quads, one VERY short near head-on
9 position - 1 Quad
10 position - 1 Quad
11 position - 0 Quads

You would have thought the 5 & 6 O'clock positions would have
produced, but no.
And the bright ones? Mag 0 eight o'clk, -1 eight o'clk, mag 1 ten o'clk,
& mag 1 three o'clk, in the order they tumbled in.

Avg. Magnitude was 2.54
Breakdown by magnitude -
 -1    0    1    2    3    4    =    Total
   1   1     2    5   7    6    =    22 seen, 2.54 avg. mag.

I would compare what I saw to a typical Lyrid show, myself, but
brighter than the Orionids of 2001, dimmer than both the Leonids,
Geminids & Perseids of 2001.

Will try to get some teff in on the morning of the 4th, still predicting
clear skies here in the Midwest, USA, and even about 10-12 degrees F
warmer than this session!  Good Luck to you all in the Eastern Hemisphere!

Bert Matous
Overland Park KS
94.66 W Long.
+38.75 N Lat.
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