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(meteorobs) Meteor Hunt of November 4/5, 2002!
November 10, 2002
Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!
This night proved to be a most enjoyable hunt with
practically no wind. The Taurids were active and one
even produced an awe inspiring, very short duration
train! It was the first Taurid I have ever seen do
that. It reminded me of a Perseid in slow motion!
I encountered some discrepancies with the "Degrees Per
Sec." data and thus have declined to list it in this
report — at least directly. I have included enough
information to draw rough estimates.
Like always, feel free to comment or correct any
errors!
DATE: Nov. 4/5, 2002 BEGIN: 0:33:30 UT
END: 1:49:30 UT
OBSERVER: Mark Fox
LOCATION: Long: 85 deg. 49' W; Lat.: 43 deg. 27' N
City & State: Newaygo, Newaygo, Co., MI USA
Elevation: 760 feet
Start Temperature: 41 F (05 C) @ 0:25:25 UT
End Temperature: 38-39 F (03-04 C) @ 2:05:15 UT
RECORDING METHOD: Designate Tape Recorder or Manual:
manual (paper & pencil)
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)
NTA
SPO
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for
recording purposes.) 0 = None seen; / = shower not
watched.
PERIOD(UT) FIELD LM TEFF NTA SPO
0:33:30- *R.A. 2 h 7m; 5.4 1.2 3+1? 2
1:49:30 Decl. 23 deg. 28"
*Note: This point is where Alpha Arietis (Hamal) is
located, and thus, was approximately where I focused
my attention on. In reality, however, my total field
could be broadened more.
-----------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -3 -2 -1 0 0.5 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
NTA 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Total: 6 meteors
-----------------------------------------------------
SKY OBSCURED:
20% FROM: 0:33:30 UT
TO: 1:49:30 UT
*Note: After viewing from the same spot again with
more attention given to the open sky, I realized that
my observations of Oct. 28/29 were also 20% obscured,
due to trees. However, once again there were no
clouds or significant haze seen during the whole
period! Amazing!
----------------------------------------------------
DEAD TIME: ~4 min.
BREAKS: none
-----------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
AVERAGE
STAR STAR
TIME AREA COUNT LM
0:34-36 6 6+ 5.4+
0:34-36 14 9 5.2+
0:51 6 7 5.7
1:07 14 10 5.5-
1:28-30 6 6+ 5.4+
1:28-30 14 9+ 5.2+
1:44 6 7 5.7
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: ~5.44
----------------------------------------------------
METEOR DATA:
SPEED
# TIME(UT) SHOWER MAG (1-5) COLOR TRAIN(SEC)
-----------------------------------------------------
1 0:51:55 NTA 0 3 Yel./Wh. -
2 1:09:50 NTA? 2 ~2 Wh.? -
3 1:15:45 NTA 0.5 2 Wh. < 0.5 (Wh.)
4 1:36:20 SPO 5 5? Bl.? -
5 1:37:00 SPO 1 3? Wh. -
6 1:47:38 NTA 2 2-3 Wh./Yel. -
-----------------------------------------------------
GENERAL LOCATION
PATH (and/or START
# SHOWER LENGTH & END POINTS)
-----------------------------------------------------
1 NTA 30 deg. Ended near Fomalhaut (alpha
Piscis Austrini)
2 NTA? ~10 deg. Per. (Crawled up his outstreched
leg!)
3 NTA 5 deg. Headed towards Iota Aurigae.
4 SPO ~3 deg. Cass.
5 SPO (?)10+ deg. Ended in Cetus.
6 NTA 8 deg. Aries
-----------------------------------------------------
# DURATION (SEC.)
1 3
2 1.5
3 1.5
4 0.5
5 ~1 (Did not see its whole path.)
6 ~1
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE:
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast
----------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:
1. I found my watch to be 30 sec. too slow on
Wednesday and corrected the time in this report
accordingly. Expect the time for the meteors to be
off 5-8 sec. at most.
2. NTA = Taurids (ANT) and SPO = sporadics.
3. Per.= Perseus; Cass. = Cassiopeia; etc.
Long trains and merry, stormy Leonids.
Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA
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