Sunday, March 20, 2016

AM Sunday January 3, 2016 - Meteor Observing Notes


  Beginning of Session: 2:30 AM EST (7:30 UT Jan. 3)
  End of Session: 4:00 AM EST (9:00 UT Jan.3)
  Location: Backyard patio at home.
  Longitude: 86° 03' 01" W.
  Latitude: 39° 39' 39" N.
  Elevation: 255 meters.

  Observed Showers:
  Anthelion (ANT) 115° (7h 40m) +20°
  Alpha Hydrids (AHY) 128° (8h 32m) -08°
  January Leonids (JLE) 148° (9h 52m) +24°
  December Leonis Minorids (DLM) 174° (11h 36m) +24°
  Quadrantids (QUA) 229° (15h 16m) +50°

  Center of F.O.V.: 150° +60° (Between Omicron Ursae Majoris and Alpha and Beta Ursae Majoris.)
  Teff: 1.416 Hours (1 hour 25 minutes of uninterrupted viewing.)
  F: 1.000 (No clouds or obstructions.)
  LM: 5.13 mag. (8 stars definitely seen in Area 3 in Ursa Major. Because of moonlight interference, this was probably 5.0 - 4.8 mag. during the last half hour, but no meteors were seen then.)
  Observing Type: Counting only; no plotting. Used Note-Corder.
  Weather: Very clear. No clouds. Breezy and cold. Some moonlight interference from 3:35 AM through the end of the session.
  (See Detailed Notes)


  3 Meteors Seen

  (Time / Type / Magnitude / Speed / Wake - Train - Color / Comments)

  1. 2:56 AM EST (7:56 UT Jan. 3) / Sporadic / +1.0 / 4-5 / No Wake, No Train, Yellowish Color / This fast meteor whizzed from the Bowl of the Big Dipper to the area of Mizar in the Handle of the Dipper. It was moving totally in the wrong direction for a QUA.

  2. 2:57 AM EST (7:57 UT Jan. 3) / ANT / +2.0 / 3 / No Wake, No Train, No Color Seen / This seemed to come from the general direction of Gemini. Though the speed seemed a little fast for an Anthelion, I'm fairly sure that it was a far-flung member of this group.

  3. 3:27 AM EST (8:27 UT Jan. 3) / AHY / +2.0 / 3 / Short Wake, No Train, No Color / This meteor "beaded" before vanishing, or possibly split into at least two fragments. It zipped north of Auriga and Gemini and I'm 90% sure that it came from the Alpha Hydrid radiant area. This was probably my first sighting of an AHY!


  Detailed Notes 


  •   With the Sporadic meteor seen the previous morning (4:04 AM EST Jan. 2 / 9:04 UT Jan. 2) I've already logged 4 meteors total for 2016, just three days into the new year; 2 Sporadics, 1 Anthelion, and 1 Alpha Hydrid. 
  •   I saw NO QUADRANTID METEORS AT ALL this morning, though the I.M.O. prediction for the maximum of this shower was just 24 hours away (3:00 AM EST Jan. 4 / 8:00 UT Jan. 4). I realize that this annual shower is known to have a very sharp rise and fall in numbers, but this was still surprising. Observing early Quadrantid meteors was my main goal. 
  •  As I mentioned above, I did no plotting tonight. The intent was to watch for meteors and assign shower membership through speed and direction.
  •   I actually had a first session outside this morning between 1:00 AM and 1:45 AM (6:00 - 6:45 UT Jan. 3) but I saw no meteors at all, and went back inside to warm up. I'd hoped that I'd just been outside too early, with the radiant of the Quadrantid Shower too low on the horizon. 
  •   I observed from the lawn chair on the patio just outside the back door of our house. I was bundled up in "full winter gear" with sweat pants under my jeans, a sweatshirt under my winter coat, hat and gloves, and hand warmers inside my gloves. By the end of the observing session my fingertips were aching but the hand warmers inside my gloves definitely helped. But, in the future, toe warmers may not be a bad idea! My feet ended up feeling like blocks of ice and my legs also felt very cold. I was shivering a lot by the last half hour. I was pleased to see that my Note Corder batteries survived the cold very well. I kept it in my coat pocket covered up by my glove when I wasn't talking into it. 
  •   Throughout this observing session the sky remained very clear with no clouds seen at all. There was enough of a breeze that I felt it now and then, and it was even enough to rustle the cover on our backyard grill now and then. There was no snow cover anywhere. I smelled chimney smoke in the neighborhood; this may have "murked up" the sky just a little.
  •   2:00 AM Conditions: 31°F, Wind SW at 14 mph, Wind Chill 21°F, Dew Point 24°F, Humidity 76%, Pressure 29.96".
  •   3:00 AM Conditions: 31°F, Wind W at 12 mph, Wind Chill 22°F, Dew Point 24°F, Humidity 76%, Pressure 29.98".
  •   4:00 AM Conditions: 29°F, Wind W at 10 mph, Wind Chill 20°F, Dew Point 23°F, Humidity 78%, Pressure 29.98".
  •   When I started observing there was a dog barking somewhere close by in the neighborhood, but it quieted down. I also heard the sound of howling in the distance that I first thought might be Coyotes, but decided later that they were (probably) also dogs. Besides these noises there was the usual hum of traffic from I-65. It was a very quiet winter night. I saw one high-flying aircraft but no satellites.
  •   The Moon was a "fat" Waning Crescent in Virgo, about 26 hours past Last Quarter (Last Quarter was at 12:30 AM EST Jan. 2 / 5:30 UT Jan. 2), 40% illuminated. Moonrise itself took place around 1:50 AM EST. Throughout the first half of the session the ESE sky showed more and more of a glow. The Moon was visible over the roof of our neighbors' house to the SSE by 3:35 AM (over the peak of their roof). For the last half hour I tried to use the hood of my coat to block it from my field of view. 
  •   The entire Big Dipper and Jupiter (in SE Leo) could be seen over the roof of our house when I started observing. Arcturus could be seen over the roof by 3:13 AM (with me lying on the lawn chair). The Moon (as I wrote) was visible from where I was lying by 3:35 AM. By the end of the session at 4:00 AM the Moon (with visible Earthshine) was nicely framed between Spica and Mars low in the SE sky. I drew a very rough sketch of how it looked:

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