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(meteorobs) 19/20 Leonids from N. Fla - numbers and narrative
Greetings list folks,
Feeling somewhat like a second-string football player getting into a
game during "garbage time", I boldly ventured out into the pre-dawn this
morning to look for Leonid leftovers. To my distinctly pleasant surprise,
however, the mighty Lion was far from finished! A narrative report and the
numbers on my busy one hour session follows:
NARRATIVE: The front cleared out on schedule, and I awoke at 0400 to
perfect observing conditions: the temperature was 50 F/10 C, no clouds or
fog and a light west wind blowing. I gathered my gear and went to my new
favorite observing spot: lying on the pre-Civil War Seawall (built circa
1833) on the grounds of the Castillo De San Marcos National Monument in St.
Augustine. Conditions here are quite good, almost a 360 degree
umobstructed field of view, no direct streetlights shining on it, and when
the sky is clear and dry, limiting magnitudes can approach 6.0, not bad for
being right in the middle of a fair-sized town. But the nicest thing about
this site: it is only a 7 minute WALK from my house. The winter Milky Way
was plainly visible and the waning cresent moon was a non--factor. I had a
limiting magnitude of 5.8. And... no mosquitoes! The meteors started
hitting quicky, and I had 10 meteors in the first 15 minutes. A lovely,
20-degree long, +2 Leonid that streaked southward thru Hydra/Puppis with a 1
second glowing train got me pumped up to see more. I was not disappointed.
After a couple of several minute lulls, the Leonid radiant erupted again
with the best meteor of the morning: a stunning deep yellow -2 that left a 3
second glowing blusih train behind. What a beauty! It streaked southward
only a few degrees west of Jupiter and the Moon. Boy, did that one wake me
up! From there the activty was steady and brisk, although evenly spaced and
not very bright, unlike the recent "storm behavoir" where noticable
"spurting" of Leonid activity took place. A lovely yellow-orange,
zero-magnitude Leonid with a nice train, was seen streaking eastward near
the end of the hour. I wish I could have kept going, but I had to break off
to prepare to go to work. The activity was still increasing! I had to tear
myself away. You bet I will be back out there this morning, too.
THE NUMBERS REPORT:
Date: 19/20 Nov 03 Location: St. Augustine, Florida Time: 0926 -
1026 UT (0426 - 0526 Local)
Sky conditions: 5.8 limiting magnitude, clear, facing south
18 Leonids, 1 Taurid/Anthelion, 2 possible Alpha Monos, 13 sporadics 34
total meteors
Leonid mags: -2 (1), 0 (1), +2 (1), +3 (9), +4 (5), +5 (1)
Leonid trains: 5 of the 18 Leonids left trains (the -2, the 0, the +2, and
two of the +3s)
Predominate Leonid colors: yellow/white with bluish glowinbg trains
Hopefully, more obs to report tomorrow.
Regards to all, Paul in the Ancient City
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