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(meteorobs) Meteor Hunt of December 11/12, 2002 (Something strange revealed?)
December 15, 2002
Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!
I Finally saw some Geminids! They were all strangely
faint, but good ol' Geminids to be sure.
But you want to read something truly ironic? I
observed under a LM of about 4.8 for 0.94 hrs, and
had annoying thin clouds as well as the moderate glare
of the moon to deal with. However, despite that, I
saw 5(+) meteors! Consider this compared to my
observations of December 9/10. What made the latter
observations so abysmal and the soon to follow ones
impressive (at least for me)? If perception is the
reason, then allow me to say that I was fairly alert
on December 9/10 while I flustered a few times while
recording this hunt, as evident by my three minutes of
dead time. Strange, isn't it?
Like always, I welcome any corrections or comments.
DATE: Dec. 11/12, 2002 BEGIN: 0:52 UT
END: 1:51 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: ~35.5 F (02 C) @ 0:49:00 UT
End Temperature: 32 F (00 C) @ 2:00:00 UT
Windy?: Calm.
RECORDING METHOD: Designate Tape Recorder or Manual:
manual (paper & pencil)
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)
GEM
XOR (ANT)
MON
SPO
-----------------------------------------------------
RADIANT HEIGHT:
GEM = ~30 deg. during the middle of the session.
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for
recording purposes.)
0 = None seen; / = shower not watched.
PERIOD(UT) FIELD LM TEFF GEM XOR MON SPO
0:52-1:51 *4 h 36 m; ~4.8- 0.94 3+1? 0 0 1
16 deg. 31"
*Note: This area is where Aldebaran is located.
However, once I noticed all the activity going on at
my zenith I also kept an eye on Mirfak in Perseus.
-----------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +2.5 +3 +4 +5
GEM 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0
XOR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SPO 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total: 5 meteors
-----------------------------------------------------
FIELD OF VIEW OBSCURED:
~30% FROM: 0:52 UT
TO: ~1:20 UT (Thin and thick clouds.)
~40% FROM: ~1:20 UT
TO: 1:51 UT (Thin and thick clouds.)
Note: Due to the fact that I am not very good at
staring exactly at one section of sky, the values
given above could possibly be decreased.
----------------------------------------------------
DEAD TIME: ~ 3 min.
BREAKS: none
-----------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
AVERAGE
STAR STAR
TIME AREA COUNT LM
0:56:00 2 5 4.8?
1:01:00 8 6- 4.8
1:23:00 2 4 -
1:27:00 8 6 4.8
1:46:00 8 6 4.8
1:51:00 4 ~4 -
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: 4.8- (?)
----------------------------------------------------
METEOR DATA:
SPEED
# TIME(UT) SHOWER MAG (1-5) COLOR TRAIN(SEC)
----------------------------------------------------
1 1:09:24 SPO 0 2 Yel./Wh.? ?
2 1:11:31 GEM 3 3 Wh. -
3 1:19:00 GEM 2.5 4 - -
4 1:30:46 Flash 1 - Wh. -
5 1:35:03 GEM 1 3 Yel./Wh. -
6 1:35:~23 GEM? 2 3 ~Wh. -
-----------------------------------------------------
PATH GENERAL LOCATION
# SHOWER LENGTH (and/or START
& END POINTS)
1 SPO 5 deg. Between Cass.& And.; heading
probably not towards, but
close by to gamma Andromedae.
2 GEM ~15 deg. Per. to And.
3 GEM 20- deg. Per. to Ari. or Tri.
4 Flash - Cet.
5 GEM ~20 deg. Tau. to Cet.
6 GEM? ~10 deg. Cet.
-----------------------------------------------------
# SHOWER "APPROXIMATE" DEGREES / SEC.
1 SPO 5+ deg./sec.
2 GEM 12 deg./sec.
3 GEM 20- deg./sec.
5 GEM 13.4 deg./sec.
6 GEM? 13.4 deg./sec.
-----------------------------------------------------
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE:
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast
----------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:
1. The meteor time should hopefully be off by no more
than a few seconds on average.
2. GEM = Geminids; XOR = Chi Orionids (ANT); MON =
Monocerotids; SPO = sporadics.
3. Cass. = Cassiopeia; Per. = Perseus; Ari. = Aries;
Tri. = Triangulum; And. = Andromeda; Cet. = Cetus;
Tau.= Taurus; Ori. = Orion; etc.
Long, bright Geminids and many merry Ursids!
Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA
__________________________________________________
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