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(meteorobs) August 11, 2002 Meteor Observations from Southern California



Irv,
Heres my pal Bob Lunsford report for Sat night/Sun morning from Laguna.
not too bad for 2 nights pre-max..  162 meteors in 5 hours (11pm-4am)
including exploding fireballs

We're on for Monday night still.. Right?

JoseJ

>From: Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa@coxdot net>
>Subject: (meteorobs) August 11, 2002 Meteor Observations from Southern 
>California
>Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 08:37:59 -0700
>
>Saturday was warm and humid along the coast. It was very hot and dry 
>inland. My observing spot must have been over 100F during the afternoon. 
>The sky was hazy most of the day due to continued smoke from the local 
>brush fires. Late afternoon had some high level moisture in the form of 
>cirrostratus clouds. That was very depressing! I checked the satellite 
>picture and noticed this was a temporary setback and that the clouds would 
>soon move out. When I arrived at my observing sight the sky was a bit hazy, 
>but otherwise clear. I could not believe how warm it still was! The asphalt 
>driveway was still warm from the day's heat. The air above it was also nice 
>and toasty. I gave the thermometer (located on top of the truck cab) 30 
>minutes to settle. At 12:17am it read 71F which is near a record high for 
>observing sessions. It must be remembered that just a few years back I had 
>frost during the Perseids. I like these temperatures better!
>
>Activity was impressive right from the start. There were a couple of long 
>lulls during the first two hours but activity really took off during the 
>middle hour. The Perseids were impressive with rates approaching 30/hr. 
>There were 6 Perseids of negative magnitudes, the best being a double burst 
>-5 yellow fireball in Cetus that left a 20 second train. 21 of the 90 
>Perseids seen had persistent trains.
>
>The remainder of the showers produced nothing of note rate wise. There was 
>a blue -4 Alpha Cap fireball low in the north that was impressive.
>The Northern Apex radiant came back to life tonight producing 6 swift 
>meteors. The Southern Apex was also active averaging one meteor per hour.
>
>I was actually lucky to get this session in as there was another large blob 
>of moisture just to my south. Another few miles to the north and I would 
>have been looking at the bottom of the clouds. The sky gods were kind 
>tonight! Let's see how I rate again tonight.
>
>August 11, 2002
>
>0647-0747 UT  1.00  6.68  1 NDA 9 PER 1 NPX 6 SPO 17 TOTAL
>
>0747-0847 UT  1.00  6.70  1 CAP 8 PER 1 NDA 1 SDA 1 NPX 5 SPO 17 TOTAL
>
>0847-0947 UT  1.00  6.64  1 CAP 3 KCG 3 NDA 20 PER 1 SDA 1 NPX 2 SPX
>                           14 SPO  45 TOTAL
>
>0947-1047 UT  1.00  6.59  29 PER 1 SDA 3 NPX 2 SPX 12 SPO 47 TOTAL
>
>1047-1147 UT  1.00  6.54  24 PER 1 SPX 11 SPO 36 TOTAL
>
>TOTALS:       5.00  6.63  2 CAP 3 KCG 4 NDA 90 PER 2 SDA 6 NPX 5 SPX
>                           48 SPO 162 TOTAL
>
>The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
>which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
>particular hour actually spent observing the sky. A cassette recorder was 
>used to record data tonight so no time was lost recording. 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 
>northeast at an altitude of 60 degrees during the entire session. No breaks 
>were taken. CAP = Alpha Capricornids, KCG = Kappa Cygnids, NDA = Northern 
>Delta Aquarids, PER = Perseids, SDA = Southern Delta Aquarids, 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 3: Rural Sky
>
>Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:   71 F (22 C)  14%
>Ending         "         "         "       67 F (19 C)  21%
>
>MAGNITUDES:
>
>CAP:      -4 (1) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +0.50
>KCG:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.33
>NDA:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.00
>PER:      -5 (1) -3 (1) -2 (3) -1 (1)  0 (4) +1 (10)
>           +2 (22) +3 (25) +4 (15) +5 (7) +6 (1)               AVE: +2.19
>SDA:       0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.00
>NPX:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (3) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (1)    AVE: +3.50
>SPX:       0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.20
>SPO:       0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (7) +3 (13) +4 (14) +5 (7) +6 (4)  AVE: +3.54
>
>Bob Lunsford
>San Diego, CA USA
>
>
>
>
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