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(meteorobs) A "Cold" Meteor Hunt of December 3/4, 2002!
December 8, 2002
Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!
It was freezing! Absolutely terrible!
During this night of observations, my hands felt as if
they froze! What a dense mind I have. I did not put
on any gloves because I figured it would be easier to
record my observations without them and not worry
about wasting cassette tapes. Well, if you notice my
dead time of five minutes and some of the
uncertainties contained within my report, I think you
can hazard to guess what all of that is partly due to.
I even had trouble trying to discern some of the
constellations in my field of view, and looking in one
of my star books was a real struggle. To top it off,
a few of the radiants I planned to keep an eye on
hadn't even risen during the hunt or were extremely
low above the horizon.
In any event, the meteor activity was rather nice---
and a bit swifter than normal too. A few meteors I
deemed sporadics (including especially the ones that
sliced through Taurus) seemed to indicate (at least to
me) a possible radiant somewhere near
Cassiopeia/Andromeda.
The first meteor I saw had the earmarks of a Chi
Orionid (Antihelion), but I couldn't prove it
conclusively through path tracing. Its slow speed and
wake made it a site, very much like the Taurid I had
seen during my Nov. 4/5 observations.
Like always, any corrections or comments are welcomed!
DATE: Dec. 3/4, 2002 BEGIN: 0:39 UT
END: 1:29 UT
OBSERVER: Mark Fox
LOCATION: Long: 85 deg. 49' W; Lat.: 43 deg. 27' N
City & State: Newaygo, Newaygo, Co., MI USA
Elevation: 760 feet
Start Temperature: 19 F (-07 C) @ 0:37:00 UT
End Temperature: 18 F (-08 C) @ 1:35:00 UT
Windy?: Calm.
RECORDING METHOD: Designate Tape Recorder or Manual:
manual (paper & pencil)
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)
XOR (ANT)
MON
SHD
SPO
-----------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for
recording purposes.)
0 = None seen; / = shower not watched.
PERIOD(UT) FIELD LM TEFF XOR MON SHD SPO
0:39-1:29 *alpha ~5.4 0.75 0 0 0 5+1?
Ceti?
*Note: The star I was focusing on (or at least tried
to) was somewhere in Cetus (I think), with the one
listed above being a good a guess as any.
-----------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -3 -2 -1 0 0.5 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
XOR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SHD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SPO 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 1 0
Total: 6 meteors
-----------------------------------------------------
FIELD OF VIEW OBSCURED:
20% FROM: 0:39 UT
TO: ~ 1:20 UT (ground obstructions)
25%+ FROM ~ 1:20
TO: 1:29 UT (20% ground obstructions;
5%+ fog or low clouds.)
----------------------------------------------------
DEAD TIME: 5 min.
BREAKS: none
-----------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
AVERAGE
STAR STAR
TIME AREA COUNT LM
0:45:00 6 6 5.4
0:57:00 2 ~6 5.0
0:57:45 6 6 5.4
~1:24 8 ~8 5.3
~1:24 6 ~8 5.9
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: ~5.40
----------------------------------------------------
METEOR DATA:
SPEED
# TIME(UT) SHOWER MAG (1-5) COLOR TRAIN(SEC)
-----------------------------------------------------
1 0:39:~37 SPO? 0.5 2 Wh. Wake! < 0.5
2 0:45:~09 SPO 4 2-3 - -
3 0:53 SPO 1 4? Wh. -
4 0:59:~08 SPO 2 4? ~Bl/Wh. -
5 1:16:~42 SPO 2 4? ~Bl./Wh. -
6 1:26:~51 SPO 1 3 Yel./Wh. -
-----------------------------------------------------
PATH GENERAL LOCATION
# SHOWER LENGTH (and/or START
& END POINTS)
1 SPO? ~10 deg. Cet.
2 SPO ~10 deg. Eri.?
3 SPO ~8 deg. Per.
4 SPO 15- deg. Tau. (Sliced through
the "horns.")
5 SPO ~8 deg. Tau. (Sliced through
the "horns.")
6 SPO 10 deg. Cet.
-----------------------------------------------------
# SHOWER "APPROXIMATE" DEGREES/SEC.
1 SPO? ~6.7 deg./sec.
2 SPO ~6.7 deg./sec.
3 SPO ~10.7 deg./sec.
4 SPO ~15 deg./sec.-
5 SPO ~10.7 deg./sec.
6 SPO 10 deg./sec.
Note: On average, the speed may have been
underestimated a little.
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE:
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast
----------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:
1. Most of the meteor time recorded during this hunt
should hopefully be off by only a few seconds.
2. XOR = Chi Orionids (ANT); MON = Monocerotids;
SHD = sigma Hydrids; SPO = sporadics.
3. Per. = Perseus; Tau.= Taurus; Cet. = Cetus;
Eri. = Eridanus; etc.
Long, bright, and stony Geminids! (I am planning to
hunt them down!)
Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA
__________________________________________________
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