The weather and the Moon continue to limit the number of meteors being detected. The night of Dec 11/12 was plagued by clouds for nearly the entire night. Last night the sky cleared after midnight. In San Diego the clouds shut down operations last night.
It is obvious from video and visual data that the Geminids are nearing their peak level of activity. According to the IMO’s Geminid 2008 real-time page,visual observers reported a ZHR of ~30-50 yesterday. The Geminid’s usually peak at ZHR’s of 60-120 so we may see twice as many Geminids tonight.
The forecast for the southwest US remains poor for the next week. The forecast calls for clouds and rain starting tonight through next Thursday. Based on experience in Tucson, there will probably be a number of stretches when the sky is clear interspersed between the clouds and rain. I have my fingers crossed that the clear conditions will last for one more night to catch the Geminid peak.
Obs Date (UT) TotTime TOT SPO ANT GEM MON PUP HYD COM TUS 2008-12-13 06h 00m 54 13 5 35 0 0 0 1 TUS 2008-12-12 02h 10m 10 2 2 5 0 0 1 0
TUS – Camera in Tucson operated by Carl Hergenrother
SDG – Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford
TotTime – Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors
TOT – Total number of meteors detected
SPO – Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower)
ANT – Antihelions
GEM – Geminids
MON – December Monocerotids
PUP – Puppids/Velids Complex
HYD – Sigma (σ-) Hydrids
COM – Coma Berenicids
The Transient Sky - Comets, Asteroids, Meteors 