I took advantage of
clear skies and the holiday to get out
for a three-hour observing session
this morning, primarily to
observe the Alpha Aurigids at their
nominal peak. I was able
to observe up until 2 hours before
the 12:00 UT predicted peak.
I followed Bob Lunsford's advice
and differentiated the cluster
of radiants in the
Aurigua/Taurus/Perseid region. I
did this to
the exclusion of all other
radiants, therefore I did not observe
for NIA's, ANTs or anything
except SPRs, Apex meteors, and AURs.
Everything else became a SPO.
I did not plot (just too rusty,
and I'm glad I didn't as
several of the meteors occured within
the same minute), but I did
use the cord method.
The AURs just did
not produce. I saw only one possible candidate
in the three hours I was out and
felt like I was on a June Bootid hunt!
I faced approximately 20-25 degrees
west of the radiant. There were
two other possible candidates but
they were just too far from my center
field of view to be sure. I
did spot two early September Perseids and
6 Apex meteors, in addition to the
single AUR seen in the third period
just before dawn.
This doesn't mean the
session wasn't without a nice supply of meteors
-- 33 in all. I suppose the
highlight was a -1 SPO that streaked across
the sky from the southwest and
which had no train *or* wake, really odd
for such a bright, fast
meteor! No fireballs, UFO's, or chupacabras were
observed, however, at around 8:40 a
slow, magnitude +6 armadillo slowly crossed
the two-lane logging road I was
parked on.
**********************************************************
OBSERVER: Kim S. Youmans (YOUKI) DATE: 08-31/9-01/2003
(Sept 1)
BEGIN:07:02 UT END 10:02UT
LOCATION: Treutlen Co, Ga. USA
82. 24' 25" W; 32. 24' 45" N
METHOD: Tape Elev: 240 ft
Facing ESE, sky 0
%0bscured
No Breaks
Session Avg's:
LM = 5.93
Sol. Long = 158.456
F = 1.0
Teff = 3.0
SPO(24) (AUR(1) SPR(2) NAPX(3)
SAPX(3)Total(33)
Period 1 07:02-08:02UT SPO(7)
NAPX(1)SAPX(1)AUR(0)
Dead time = 0 min, Teff = 1.0
Avg. LM =
+5.98, FOV Mid period 02:20 +27
Solar Long. 158.416 Mid
period
Period 2 08:02-09:02UT SPO(9)
NAPX(2)AUR(0)
Dead time = 0 min, Teff = 1.0
Avg. LM = +6.07, FOV Mid period
03:30 +25
Sol Long. 158.456 Mid period
Period 2 09:02-10:02UT
SPO(8)SAPX(2)AUR(1)SPR(2)
Dead time = 0 min, Teff = 1.0
Avg. LM = +5.73, FOV Mid period
04:25 +25
Sol Long. 158.497 Mid
period
Limiting Magnitudes
07:20 UT
(IMO 8) +5.84 (IMO 2) +5.98
07:50 UT (IMO 8) +6.10 (IMO 2) +6.07
08:20
UT (IMO 8) +6.10 (IMO 2) +6.01
08:50 UT (IMO 8) +6.10 (IMO 2)
+6.07
09:20 UT (IMO 8) +5.89 (IMO 2) +6.01
09:50 UT (IMO 8) +5.43 (IMO 2) +5.60
Showers Observed
AUR 05:32 +42 (1)
NAPX 04:28 +37 (3)
SAPX 04:28
+07 (3)
SPR 05:32 +42 (2)
SPO (24)
Magnitude Distribution
P1
SPO
(7)
+1(2) +3(2) +4(2)
+5(1)
NAPX(1)
+5(1)
SAPX(1) +3(1)
P2
SPO (9) -1(1)
+1(2) +3(1) +4(2) +5(4)
NAPX(2)
+3(1) +5(1)
P3
SPO
(8)
+2(6) +4(1) +5(1)
AUR
(1)
+4(1)
SPR
(2) +3(2)
SAPX(2) +3(2)