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(meteorobs) Late Meteor Hunt of December 12/13, 2003!



December 23, 2003


Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!

I was clouded out on Geminid peak night and the night
after.  Nevertheless, Dec. 12/13 was clear and enabled
me to view a few meteors in the evening, including 2
Gems.  It was cold at 21 deg. F!  In fact, that was
the reason why I stopped to take a break during the
hunt after only five minutes.  I wasn’t too cold right
then, but my family thought our bay laurel tree
outside would soon be.  Thus, I stopped to help take
it indoors finally so we could continue to have fresh
bay leaves in our homemade spaghetti sauce!  

The LM was a problem to record during this hunt since
only one star area yielded usable data.  However, I
think I still received a fairly accurate picture of
the sky conditions for my observations.   Also, I
could count ~7+ stars in Pleiades during the whole
session.
 
Meteor #2, as detailed in the report, was a very
short, slow meteor right in the middle of Taurus (the
horns region).  At first I called it a Geminid, but
later decided that it was more likely an antihelion
due to the closeness to that radiant, combined with
its slowness and path length.  I gave it an “ANT”
designation only because I could not find what one
calls them from their current radiant.   

In this report, please note my first attempt at
calculating DCV data, which lies near the end of the
e-mail.  The values are naturally only estimates. 
However, I hope I understand what I am recording; that
is, the (D)istance from the (C)enter of my field of
(V)iew.   Since alpha Ceti was basically my “exact”
center of view, I used the immediate area around the
star as a point to calculate from. 

Also, please let me know of any errors you find or
comments you have.     

My report begins...


DATE: December 12/13, 2003  BEGIN: 0:44 UT (7:44 EST)
                            END:   1:30 UT (8:30 EST)
OBSERVER: Mark Fox
LOCATION: Long: 85 deg. 49' W; Lat.: 43 deg. 27' N
City & State: Newaygo, Newaygo, Co., MI USA
Elevation: 762 feet (observed by our lake shore)
Start Temperature: ~21  F (-5.5 C) @ 0:38 UT
End Temperature:   ~21  F (-5.5 C) @ 1:34 UT
Wind: Calm.
RECORDING METHOD: Designate Tape Recorder or Manual:
manual (paper & pencil) + a traveling atomic clock
-----------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)
GEM
ANT
SPO
-----------------------------------------------------

GEM RADIANT HEIGHT: about 13-~18. deg. 
(From start to end.) 
-----------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for
recording purposes.) 0 = None seen;  / = shower not
watched.

PERIOD(UT)   FIELD     LM   TEFF   GEM  ANT   SPO
0:44-1:30  *RA 3h 2m  ~5.5  0.567   2    1     1    
            Dec 4° 5"

*Note: This area is where alpha Ceti (Menkar) is
located. 
-----------------------------------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER  -2 -1  0 +0.5 +1 +1.5 +2 +3 +4 +5   
GEM      0  0  1   0   1   0   0  0  0  0
ANT      0  0  0   0   1   0   0  0  0  0  
SPO      0  0  0   0   0   0   1  0  0  0

Total: 4 meteors   
----------------------------------------------------- 
                     
FIELD OF VIEW OBSCURED:

                ~90% FROM: 0:44 UT     
                     TO:   1:30 UT 

Note: The above percentage is due to trees and severe
light pollution from a nearby town. Otherwise,
however, I had a decent FOV with probably below
average haze near the horizon. 
----------------------------------------------------

DEAD TIME: ~ 3 min.

BREAKS: 9 min. (0:49-0:58 UT)
-----------------------------------------------------

LIMITING MAGNITUDE:

                    AVERAGE
            STAR     STAR
TIME        AREA    COUNT    LM

0:44         8       ~8      5.3
0:44         4        4       - 
0:58         4        4       -
0:58         8        8      5.3  
1:23         4        4       -
1:23         8        9      5.5 

*MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: ~5.5

*Note: I recorded about 7+ stars in the Pleiades
cluster during the whole session also.
----------------------------------------------------

METEOR DATA:
                                                      
                           SPEED
 #   TIME(UT)  SHOWER  MAG  (1-5)  COLOR  TRAIN(SEC)
-----------------------------------------------------
 1   1:01:20     SPO    2    2-3    Yel.      -
 2  ~1:09:36     ANT    1     1     Yel.      -
 3   1:26:50     GEM    1     3     Wh.       - 
 4   1:28:40     GEM 0(or >) ~3     Wh.       -
-----------------------------------------------------

            PATH         AREA
 # SHOWER  LENGTH      OF METEOR              
----------------------------------------------------- 
                   
 1  SPO    5 deg.     Between Aur & Gem. 

 2  ANT    3 deg.     Middle of Tau.’s horns.
 
 3 GEM   ~20 deg.     S. Sky.   

 4 GEM   ~15 deg.     S. Sky.

-----------------------------------------------------

 #     SHOWER   “APPROXIMATE” DEGREES / SEC.

 1       SPO        5 deg./sec.
 2       ANT        2 deg./sec.
 3       GEM      ~10 deg./sec.  
 4       GEM      7.5 deg./sec. 
-----------------------------------------------------

 #     SHOWER          DCV

 1       SPO        ~45 deg.

 2       ANT          0 deg. (Was looking at Tau. 
                              at the time.)

 3       GEM        ~25 deg.

 4       GEM         20 deg.   
-----------------------------------------------------

SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE: 
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast

----------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:

1. The meteor time could be off a few seconds.  

2.  GEM = Geminids; ANT = Antihelions; SPO =
sporadics.  

3.  Gem. = Gemini; Aur.= Auriga; Tau.= Taurus; etc.

Merry Christmas and Many Merry Ursids!  

Mark Fox 
Newaygo, MI USA


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