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(meteorobs) December 5, 2002 Meteor Observations From California
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To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
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Subject: (meteorobs) December 5, 2002 Meteor Observations From California
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From: Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa@coxdot net>
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Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 16:58:02 -0800
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Delivered-To: meteorobs-mhonarc2@galaxy.atmob.org
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User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0
The weather finally cooperated on one of my nights off. Well, semi
cooperated as there was lots of cirrus in the sky during the first hour.
The clouds did clear up and the second two hours were full of activity.
Some early Geminids were noted plus a couple of Monocerotids were seen.
The antihelion radiant (Chi Orionids) were somewhat quiet as only 2
members were seen. Both apex radiant were also on the quiet side.
My plots revealed 6 meteors that formed a sharp radiant near 137 (09:10)
+26. This position lies in northeastern Cancer near the faint star 75
Cancri. These meteors were on the swift side. This activity could
possibly be associated with the "December Leonids" that have been
occasionally reported near the Geminid maximum. Normal radiant drift
would place this center of activity at 144 (09:36)+24 on December 14.
This position is near the star Lambda Leonis, the most northwestern star
in the "sickle of Leo".
There also seemed to be another active radiant behind me in the northern
sky. 3 plots revealed a diffuse radiant somewhere near the handle of the
Big Dipper (Ursa Major). I have always suspected a radiant in Ursa Major
this time of year but have not been able to pinpoint its exact location.
December 5, 2002
1020-1120 UT 0.96 6.03 1 ANT 2 GEM 2 NPX 3 SPO 8 TOTAL
1120-1220 UT 0.90 6.40 1 GEM 1 MON 13 SPO 15 TOTAL
1220-1320 UT 0.91 6.59 1 ANT 1 MON 1 NPX 1 SPX 9 SPO 13 TOTAL
TOTALS: 2.77 6.34 2 ANT 3 GEM 2 MON 3 NPX 1 SPX 25 SPO
36 TOTAL
NOTE: The sky was 50 percent obscured during the first hour.
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. 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. ANT = Antihelions (Chi Orionids),
GEM = Geminids, MON = Moncerotids, 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: 38 F (3 C) 51%
Ending " " " 37 F (3 C) 55%
MAGNITUDES:
ANT: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (1) +6 (0) AVE: +3.00
GEM: 0 (0) +1 (1) +2 (1) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.00
MON: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (2) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +4.00
NPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (3) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +3.00
SPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.00
SPO: -5 (1) -1 (1) 0 (2) +1 (2) +2 (4) +3 (6) +4 (6)
+5 (2) +6 (1) AVE: +2.48
Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA
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