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(meteorobs) Observation December 13/14 2003
The following night for the peak of the Geminids, I was only able to
get to the Casselman just after midnight, following a family reunion.
When I arrived, I found a few frozen observers, some with scopes and
some with lawn chairs all in the pit. The temperature was -16C. Some
of them were there since 4-5pm, while there were a few other people who
had left before I arrived. The first comment from one of the observers
when I arrived was something about how cold and humid it was. Then he
said enthusiastically that the meteors were great, and that a bit
earlier they witnessed a mag -8 or so Geminid fireball!
As I changed into warmer gear in my car, I would occasionally glance
out the window quickly, and often a meteor would go by. It looked
promising! By the time I settled into my warm sleeping bag, I would
hear the voices around me saying "oooooh!!" as another meteor flashed
by. I signed-on at 0605UT, and right away a pair of Geminids were seen
shooting into Orion. Wow!
The sky conditions surprised me. Once the Moon was kept blocked and
away from my field of view (using some of the panels from my coffin), I
was able to get down to 5.9 - 6.0 limit mag. The Moon was farther away
from the radiant and much easier to manage than the previous night. It
also helped a lot not having any snow on the ground. The temperature
read -16C. Above the south-west, I could see the cirrus clouds still
distant but I knew it meant the night may end quicker than I had hoped.
Over the course of two hours of mainly clear skies, I recorded way
more than I was initially expecting for such a moony night - an
astounding 141 meteors! The first hour alone had 64 Geminids, 11
sporadics and a single Sigma Hydrid. For the second hour, the rates
were almost just as good with 59 Geminids, 2 Monocerotids and 4
sporadics.
At 0823UT (0323EST), I was forced to sign-off from officially recording
meteors due to the cirrus clouds quickly advancing and increasing above
20% of my field of view. For the next two hours that followed I still
was able to continue observing only casually for meteors. Despite very
poor skies (usually 50% covered) I took note of an additional 51
Geminids, 1 Monocerotid and 4 sporadics. So for the entire night I saw
close to 200 meteors all-together. As time went on, the rates
gradually declined sharply as the clouds just kept getting thicker. I
gave up at 5am when all but the Moon and a few brightest stars had
disappeared in the overcast.
The many highlights that come to mind of this very memorable night...
- 0615UT: A fine-looking vivid blue mag -3 Geminid in the south!
- 0626UT: A pair of near simultaneous mag 2 and 3 Geminids.
- 0631UT: A very persistent 30 deg long, slow moving sporadic of mag -1
that had a vivid yellow tint to it.
- 0634UT: A spectacular mag -4.5 Geminid fireball low in the south that
flared
a nice bright blue color, and produced a one second train.
- 0648UT, a mag +2 Geminid almost on the radiant, slow and
forshoretened to just a half degree.
- 0708UT: The best had to be the *INCREDIBLE* mag -6 Geminid fireball
that plunged a long 20 degrees path straight down into the north. It
quickly swelled up and turned a really vivid BLUE-GREEN! Just before
vanishing it was thick as heck and lit up a good portion of the sky
above the tree line. It left a one-second train. It was a sight I won't
soon forget.
- 0709UT: I was barely recovering from the emotions of the previous
meteor when a nice sporadic earthgrazer appeared! Over 40 deg long, mag
+2 very swift path!
- 0755UT: Lovely Geminid of mag 0, yellow-orange over 20 degrees path.
- 0804UT: No less than 5 Geminids all within the minute!
- 0807UT: Very vivid BLUE mag 0 Geminid.
- 0808UT: A Monocerotid fireball caught very low over the north-west
horizon into the trees and clouds, so not well seen. Seemed to be about
mag -4 with a double-flare before vanishing.
- 0850UT: Pure white Geminid of mag -2.
- 0945UT: Vivid *electric-blue* Geminid of mag -2
- 0946UT: Bright, yellowish, swift mag -3 apex sporadic with 2 sec
train.
Full data follows below...
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: December 13/14 2003
BEGIN: 0605 UT (0105 EST) END: 0823 UT (0323 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North Elevation: 50m
City & Province: Casselman, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, cord align method
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS:_____________________________________radiant position
GEM (Geminids)_________________________________0728 +33 MON
(Monocerotids)_____________________________0652 +08
HYD (Sigma Hydrids)____________________________0836 +01
ANT (sporadics from the antihelion)____________0628 +23
NPX (sporadics from the north apex)____________1128 +18
SPX (sporadics from the south apex)____________1128 -12
SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT)__FIELD___Teff__F_____LM_____GEM_MON_HYD_ANT_NPX_SPX_SPO
0605-0705__0441+28__1.00__1.00__6.05___64___0___1___0___0___0___11
0705-0823__0552+68__1.13__1.08__5.85___59___2___0___0___1___0___3
TOTALS:_____________2.13______________123___2___1___0___1___0___14 = 141
The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken down as
close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal Time. The
second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I centered my
field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents effective observing
time (corrected for breaks or any time I did not spent looking at the
sky). The fourth column (F) is a value for obstructions in the field of
view such as clouds (1.00 = 100% clear skies). The next column (LM) is
the average naked eye limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star
counts. All following columns indicate the number of meteors for each
shower observed.
------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER
_____-6__-5__-4__-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5_____AVE
GEM___1___0___1___1___0___0___9__12__38__38__20___3____+2.31
MON___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___2___0___0____+3.00
HYD___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___0___0___0____+1.00
SPO___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___1___4___2___7___0____+2.80
Note: Magnitude scale is to determine the brightness of sky objects.
Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with the
planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius, magnitude +2
to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6 to +7 are the
faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark conditions. A
meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a fireball. The above
table contains the magnitudes from all observed meteors, and the
average (last column) for showers.
------------------------
SKY OBSCURED (FOV): Yes...
- 5% from 0740-0750
- 10% from 0750-0800
- 20% from 0800-0823
------------------------
Dead time: 10.33 min. (for breaks)
Breaks (UT): 0611 (20sec), 0725-0733, 0758 (60sec), 0815 (60sec)
-------------------------
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