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(meteorobs) Early Evening Geminids: East GA 12-12/13-03
With rain forecast here for tomorrow night, and the moon-free period
this evening looking like my only shot at the Geminids, Paul Jones and I
arranged another double-station session for the 7:00- 9:00 PM local time
period this evening (12-12/13). Partly cloudy skies today had not abated by
dusk, and I arrived at my site with a sky that was not promising. The first
hour was unusable for anything resembling a formal observation, but by 7:40
I had a completely clear, if not translucent, +6.0 sky.
The only obstruction during the second hour was a contrail that wound around
the sky like the arm of a giant clock. It may have blocked .05% of the sky
for a period of ten minutes or so.
I saw just one meteor during the cloudy first hour, but it was what I
had come for -- a bright, beautiful earthgrazer. At 6:50 local time, with
the radiant still just below the horizon, a yellow -4 Geminid traveled the
zodiac from Pisces to near Venus, flaring three times. If Paul was not
clouded out, he surely saw it.
The count for the second, clear period (7:43-8:51) was six GEMs and
one lone SPO, the final Geminid a blue-green -2 just southeast of Aries with
a longish path length. So I started and finished the two hour session with
negative magnitude meteors, and given that it was early evening and cloudy
during the first half of the session, I was pretty satisfied with the
results. I'll try to get the usable hour's report posted later this
weekend.
Kim Youmans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Wilson" <meteorrr@worldnet.attdot net>
To: <meteorobs@atmob.org>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 3:16 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Geminid
> Thanks Robert for that light polluted report. I often think about going
in
> my own but then talk myself out of it (streetlights nearby). The spot
that
> I had been using (locally) recently went under the blade of the bulldozer!
> If the weather cooperates I will be taking a drive Saturday.
>
> Clear skies, long trains
>
> Jeff W.
> Original Message -----
> From: "Robert J. Gardner" <rendrag@earthlinkdot net>
> To: "Meteor Observors" <meteorobs@atmob.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 12:56 PM
> Subject: (meteorobs) Geminid
>
>
> > I woke up this morning by some accident at three AM Pacific Standard
> > Time and decided to see if I could see any Geminids in my light polluted
> > back yard. I got started at 3:15 AM PST (19:15 UTC). With the moon so
> > high and the normal light pollution I would estimate the sky at a LM of
> > 2.5 to 3.0. I faced North East trying to get some protection from the
> > moonlight with my house and an old fashioned black umbrella. My field
> > of view due to buildings was probably one third or less of the sky. I
> > saw just three Geminids and no sporadic in one hour of continuous
> > observing. They appeared early in the observation and were a magnitude
> > of 1.5, 1.0, and 0.0. This may seem like a waste of time for some of
> > you more lucky observers, but for me in my back yard at this time of the
> > year, that was a grand experience. :-)
> > I don't consider this good scientific data but for those curious soles,
> > I am at 118o 03m 32s West Longitude and
> > +34o 09m 55s North Latitude in sunny southern California. The weather
> > is crystal clear and I will be observing under these adverse conditions
> > again tonight, I hope. I'm looking forward to next year when the moon
> > will not be any trouble at all.
> >
> >
> > The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
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>
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