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(meteorobs) Meteor Hunt Of March 18/19, 2002



March 24, 2002

Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!

It's been a while, but since the advent of Lent I
decided to cut back on using the computer except for
work and special matters, which, of course, excludes
Sundays.  Thus, if anyone feels the need to contact me
privately or the like, your best bet for an answer
would be to use the following e-mail until Easter
Sunday:

marktfoxvdb@yahoo.com  

I would also like to say that I managed to pop in a
little meteor hunting on the evening of March 18th.
I did my observing on the bank of Kimball Lake (which
connects with Pickerel, the lake I live on), --- just
a few hundred yards away from where I have usually
observed.  Let it be known though that my hunting
wasn't exactly a formal one.  So please pardon if the
information appears rougher than normal.  Actually,
what inspired me to get outside on this night and 
other nights recently is of course the Comet
Ikeye-Zhang.  Thus, if you notice the large amount 
of dead time recorded for this hunt, you can guess 
what it was mostly spent on.   

Speaking of comets, has there been any indication if
Comet Ikeye-Zhang broke up a bit during this night, or
sometime before?  I can't say for certain (like many
things) but I could see a faint light ever so close to
the actual comet that may or may not have had a tail.
This night as you will see was a hazy one and comet
viewing was hard, even with my binoculars.  In fact, 
at the end of my meteor observations I couldn't locate
the comet.  Probably what happened was the comet just
happened to be passing by a faint star.  Recent
observations (March 23/24) seem to point to this. 
Nevertheless, I thought the incident was worthwhile
sharing.      
       
Also, forgive me if I have confused matters in my
report, but I decided since I changed direction during
my meteor observing to separate the hunt into two
periods as you will see.  If that is not preferred,
please let me know.  

Like always, be aware of the possibilities of errors 
in the following report (including time) as you're not
dealing with an expert meteor observer here!   


DATE: March 18/19, 2002          BEGIN: 1:12:49  UT
                                 END: 1:48:49  UT
OBSERVER: Mark Fox
LOCATION: Long: 85 deg. 49' W; Lat.: 43 deg. 27' N
City & State: Newaygo, Newaygo, Co., MI USA
Elevation: 765 feet
Temperature: ~33 F (02 C) @ ~2:43 UT
RECORDING METHOD: Memory
-----------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)

SPO

-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for
recording purposes.)
0 = None seen;  / = shower not watched.


PERIOD(UT)            *FIELD              LM      SPO
1:12:49 - 1:33:49 UT   R.A. 2 h 7 m; 
                       Decl. 23 deg. 28"  5.0      0


PERIOD(UT)            *FIELD              LM      SPO
1:33:50 - 1:48:49 UT  R.A. 10 h 20 m; 
                      Decl. 19 deg. 51"    -       1
   
TOTAL TEFF: 0.35 hrs.

*Note: This point was about where I focused my
attention on.  In reality, however, my total field
could be broadened more.     
-----------------------------------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:


SHOWER  -3 -2 -1  0 +1 +1.5 +2 +2.5 +3 +4 +5 +6  TOTAL
SPO      0  0  0  0  0    1  0    0  0  0  0  0    1
                                                 -----
--------------------------------------------       1 
  
*SKY OBSCURED:

Roughly 15%+ FROM: 1:12:49 UT 
               TO: 1:33:49 UT    

Roughly 33% FROM: 1:33:50  UT 
               TO: 1:48:49 UT

*Note: I am including the moon and ground-based
obstructions in the above percentages. 
----------------------------------------------------

DEAD TIME: very roughly 15 min.

BREAKS: none
-----------------------------------------------------

LIMITING MAGNITUDE:

***FIRST PERIOD***
                                 
                STAR     STAR
TIME            AREA    COUNT   LM

1:17:49          8        7-    5.1- 
                                    
1:30:49          8        6-    4.8+  

MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: ~5.0 


***SECOND PERIOD***

(?) 1:35:49      9        5       -

1:48:49          9        5       -

MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE:  ?  (What would one do in a
situation like this?)
----------------------------------------------------

METEOR DATA:

                                
                            SPEED 
#    TIME(UT)  SHOWER  MAG  (1-5)   COLOR  TRAIN(SEC)
-----------------------------------------------------
1    1:37:17    SPO   +1.5   1-2    Wh/Bl?    NONE   

Degrees/Sec.: 3 1/3 - 2.5   
-----------------------------------------------------

               PATH    GENERAL LOCATION   
#     SHOWER  LENGTH   (and/or START          
                       & END POINTS)                  
                       
1       SPO    5 deg.  Hydra; passed by Alphard (alpha
                       Hydrae) by a deg. or less on 
                       its left side  (~R.A. 9h 35m;
                       ~Decl -9 deg. -30") heading
                       "maybe" between the directions
                       of upsilon Hydrae 1 and 2.  I
                       believe it began a degree or so
                       above Alphard and I could trace
                       it back to the heads area of
                       Gemini.     
-----------------------------------------------------
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE: 
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast

----------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:

1.  Although I did not originally record each meteor 
to the second (except for the meteor), I found out
later that my watch was 71 sec. fast, and so corrected
the time accordingly for the report. 

2.  I recently went meteor hunting on March 23/24 for
almost an hour (1:08:49 - 2:01:49 UT).  No meteors 
were seen, sadly.  Are the observations still valuable
enough to report?  If so, please do not expect them
soon as I'm so slow in reporting... 

3. Four satellites were recorded during the hunt.
The first was seen @ about 1:21:49 and was of 2.0 mag.
It may have been the one that passed right by the
sickle of Leo, heading towards Hydra, probably close 
to Alphard.  The other satellites were seen at 
1:42:49, 1:43:49, and 1:48:49 UT. 

 
Long trains and electrophonic meteors! 

Mark Fox 
Newaygo, MI USA




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