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(meteorobs) June 8, 2003 Meteor Observations from California

I had the pleasure of viewing with Pete Gural this morning. We were forced
to travel to the western slopes of Mt. Laguna to escape the persistent
stratus deck. The cloud layer was nearly 3000 feet thick and producing
drizzle over the western half of the county. With the lights of San Diego
obscured by the clouds, the sky was most impressive. Details in the Milky
Way were easily visible to the naked eye. The faint branch that stretches
into western Scorpius was easy to trace. The temperatures were pleasant and
the wind was light and mostly nonexistent.

Meteor activity was good and on the bright side. The antihelion radiant was
particularly active during the first hour of viewing. The highlight of the
morning was a zero magnitude member of the Northern Apex, which shot
westward just below Altair, leaving a nice one second persistent train. It's
a shame we had to leave early (I had to get to work) as we both wanted to
try to see any activity from the Arietids.

June 8, 2003

0817-0922 UT 1.00  6.67  6 ANT 0 NPX   4 SPO  10 TOTAL

0922-1047 UT 1.37  6.73  0 ANT 2 NPX   9 SPO  11 TOTAL

TOTALS:      2.37  6.68  6 ANT 2 NPX  13 SPO  21 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. 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 southeast at
an altitude of 50 degrees during the entire session. No breaks were taken.
ANT = Antihelions (Sagittarids), NPX = Northern Apex, and SPO = Sporadics
(random activity).

Location: Pine Valley Viewpoint 116 45' 21" W 32 41' 21" N ELE = 1000 m

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class 2 (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity:    61 F (16 C) 25%
Ending              "                "            "           62 F (17 C)
17%

MAGNITUDES:

ANT: 0 (0) +1 (2) +2 (3) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.00
NPX: 0 (1) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0) AVE: +2.00
SPO: 0 (1) +1 (5) +2 (2) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (2) +6 (0) AVE: +2.23

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA

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