[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(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

_________________________________________________________________
Need a shot of Hank Williams or Patsy Cline?  The classic country stars are 
always singing on MSN Radio Plus.  Try one month free!  
http://join.msn.com/?page=offers/premiumradio

The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
To stop getting all email from the 'meteorobs' lists, use our Webform:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html