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(meteorobs) Geminid Report



Gemini Report for MeteorObs and IMO

 

What a fantastic Geminid Shower this year.  We hardly got out of our cars at the Tulsa Astronomy Club observatory until we saw four Geminids immediately. Meteor chaser Steve Chapman and myself were the first ones to our site and we really didn’t have time to think about setting up.  They were already poping and it was only 1a.m.  I can not remember a better Geminid Shower.  We were seeing 1-2 a minute.  Where the Leonid Storm produced all of its meteors in about 45 minutes, the Geminids produced about 2 a minute for 3 solid hours.  It was unbelievable. By 1:30a.m. we had a group consisting of Teresa Kincannon, Denny Mishler, Curtis, and several others.  Later KC Lobrecht, master observer arrived and some others. Several in our group thought overall it was better than the Leonids with several -4 greenish orange colored meteors.  Just like Pierre Martin said in his report of Dec. 12, the night before the peak, “those Geminids are just gorgeous.

As a group we counted 107 between 1a.m.-2a.m.CST, 215 between 3a.m. and 4a.m. and 280 between 4a.m. and 5a.m., it dropped off some after 5 including our group and the rates dropped to 48 between 5a.m. and 5:30a.m., still more than 2 a minute.  Below is my individual count of 111.  I used paper and pencil to report. I recorded the time and meteor each time I saw one.  Here is my report from Tulsa, Oklahoma.  It seemed like the brighter ones -3 or better were green in color and the rest were a white/gold color.  Although I did see some reddish orange in a couple.  All of the ones I saw were Gemini as I could trace back their streaks to the Gemini radiant.  I never saw one go the opposite into Gemini the entire night, which I thought was a little unusual. The meteors came from all over the sky out of Gemini but it seemed the best were in the South and West.  Gemini was either almost or straight overhead the entire viewing session.

 

Begin :  1:28CST(07:28UT)  End:  4:11CST(10:11UT)

Location:  Lat. 35.8307N  Long.  96.1471W

Site:  Tulsa Astronomy Club Observatory

Date of Observation:  December 14, 2002

 

Observed Showers:  GEM

LM:  Began at about 4.5 after moon set increased to 6.0

Recording method:  Paper and pencil

 

1.O7:28:12UT    +2Mg        

2.07:30:07UT     0

3.07:30:23UT     +2

4.07:31:18         0

5.07:31:30         +2

6.07:33:20         0

7.07:34:40         -1

8.07:36:10         -2

9.07:36:45         -1

10. 07:38:08      +1

11. 07:42:33      -4  Beautiful green color, a blazer long tail

12. 07:42:55      -2

13. 07:48:09      +1

14. 07:49:35      -1

15. 07:49:58      -6  Lit up the sky, major meteor, green and gold color sparks

16. 07:51:10      +1

17. 07:55:18      -3 Green color

18. 07:59:21      -4  Bright blue green

19. 08:00:03      +1

20. 08:00:48      -1

21. 08:01:17      0

22. 08:02:15      +2

08:03 – 08:10     Break

23. 08:12:10      -3

24. 08:12:45      +2

25. 08:13:12      0

26. 08:13:15      -1

27. 08:13:18      +1  Meteors 25-27 came almost together, 3 within 6 seconds(Memories of Leonids)

28. 08:14:11      -2  Bright greenish color, 40 degree train

29. 08:15:33      -1

30. 08:16:48      -1

31. 08:18:10      0

32. 08:19:30      -1

33. 08:20:40      +1  Limiting Mg. increased to 6.0 as moon set

34. 08:23:14      -1

 08:25-08:30      Break

35. 08:34:10      -1

36. 08:35:33      +1

37. 08:36:10      0

38. 08:36:50      -2

39. 08:37:25      0

40. 08:42:05      -2

41. 08:42:05      0   Two together, one gold the other green

42. 08:43:30      0

43. 08:43:30      0   Another two together both goldish

44. 08:44:15      -2

45. 08:48:20      -3

46. 08:48:20      +1  Two together or within 1 second of each other

47. 08:52:10      -1

48. 08:56:00      -1

49. 08:58:15      +1

50. 08:58:15      -1  Two together

51. 09:01:22      +1

52. 09:02:30      +1

53. 09:02:30      -1 Two together

54. 09:04:20      +1

55. 09:05:35      +2

56. 09:05:55      +2

57. 09:06:10      -2

58. 09:06:45      +2

59. 09:07:10      0

60. 09:07:35      0

61. 09:08:25      0

62. 09:10:05      0

63. 09:11:12      -2

64. 09:12:18      -3

65. 09:13:33      0

66. 09:14:20      +2

67. 09:15: 05     +2

68. 09:15:45      0

69. 09:17:10      +1

70. 09:19:15      0

71. 09:19:33      +1

72. 09:21:00      0

73. 09:22:12      -1

74. 09:24:30      -1

75. 09:25:15      +1

76. 09:25:55      +2

77. 09:26:20      -2

78. 09:28:00      -5 A blazer, long train green

79. 09:29:30      -4 A blazer, blue green in color

80. 09:29:55      -1 Barely got through oohing and aahing at the -4 when this one came streaking by

81. 09:30:15      0

82. 09:30:55      0

83. 09:31:45      0

84. 09:32:30      +1

85. 09:32:55      +2

86. 09:36:05      +1

87. 09:37:00      0

88. 09:40:00      0

89. 09:41:15      0

90. 09:42:35      -1

91. 09:45:00      0

92. 09:46:00      +3

93. 09:50:10      0

94. 09:50:45      0

95. 09:53:00      -3

96: 09:55:00      0

97. 09:55:35      0

98. 09:56:00      +3

99. 09:56:45      +2

100. 09:58:15    -4  I WANTED MY 100TH TO BE SPECTACULAR AND IT WAS, STREAKING OUT OF GEMINI THROUGH ORION, FIRST BRIGHT WHITE TURNING TO GREEN THROUGH ORION, BEST OF THE NIGHT!!!

101. 10:03:10    -1 Very green

102. 10:04:30    -1 Bluish very blue in color.

103. 10:05:20    -1

104. 10:06:10    0

105. 10:06:50    0

106. 10:08:05    +2

107. 10:09:40    +1

108. 10:09:40    -1 Two together both white in color

109. 10:10:30    0

110. 10:11:15    -2

111. 10:11:40    -3  Beautiful blue green right after a -2 white one

 

At this point I stopped recording and just counted with the group I was with and enjoyed the rest of the shower.the last hour of viewing.  We finally stopped at 5:30a.m.CST.   We had beautiful clear skies the entire night. 

 

David Stine

Tulsa, Oklahoma USA

 

           


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