Dec 27/28/29/30/31 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

I hope everyone had an enjoyable time with friends and family over the Holidays.

Since the last meteor posting the Ursids came and went with little fanfare. Currently only one shower, and a minor one at that, is active.  Interestingly, my camera in Tucson has been been picking up quite a few Coma Berenicids (COM) the past two nights (nearly 1/3rd of all meteors detected). Only ~8% of the meteors picked up by Bob’s camera were COM. Since Bob’s camera goes much fainter than mine it is possible that their are no faint COMs. As a result, seeing fainter will not turn up any additional COMs. With maximum last night, the COMs should slowly decrease in number over the next few weeks.

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO ANT COM
TUS  2008-12-31  08h 42m  18  13  0   5
TUS  2008-12-30  11h 31m  10  7   0   3
SDG  2008-12-30  11h 56m  63  52  6   5
TUS  2008-12-29  11h 30m  15  13  2   0
SDG  2008-12-29  12h 02m  56  50  4   2
TUS  2008-12-28  11h 30m  13  12  0   1

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
COM – Coma Berenicids

Published by Carl Hergenrother

I am a professional astronomer specializing in the study of comets, asteroids and meteors. This blog will focus on my professional and amateur work in this field.

2 Comments

  1. I witnessed a massive meteor/meteorite (unsure if it landed or just passed through the atmosphere) in broad daylight at approximately 4:45pm AST on December 31, 2008.

    I was in New Brunswick, Canada facing south and the meteor flew by across the horizon in a south-east direction. It was far away but as bright as a camera flash. It literally brightened the entire sky as it was almost dusk.

    The object was very large, bright and tinted blue/teal. It was very quick. Quite possibly the most magnificent/frightening thing I’ve ever witnessed.

    If you have any information, please contact me. I’m very curious to identify what I saw.

    Mike Goyette
    mike_goyette@hotmail.com

    1. Hi Mike,

      Sounds like you saw a nice bright fireball in twilight. I havent’ found any other reports of this one. I’ll let you know if something comes up.

      As impressive as it looked, the small asteroid that caused it was probably no much bigger than your fist.

      Thanks,
      – Carl

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