The “meteor” sky is starting to get busy. There are at least 6 showers producing activity at this time. Though most of these showers are minor, a few (like the two Taurid streams and the Orionids) are producing multiple video meteors per night.
The table below summarizes results from the past 3 nights. The first 2 nights were hampered by persistent cirrus which suppressed meteor rates. The last night was mostly clear though rates should have been higher. As it turned out, I had one of the parameters for the MetRec detection code set wrong. This probably cost me 10-20% of last night’s meteors.
Since the last meteor summary, 2 additional showers have become active. For more on these showers (the Zeta Taurids and the October Ursa Majorids), see Bob Lunsford’s Meteor Activity Outlook for this week.
Obs Date (UT) TotTime TOT SPO NTA STA ORI EPC ZTA OCU TUS 2009-10-12 09h 51m 29 16 2 2 7 1 1 0 TUS 2009-10-11 08h 13m 10 7 1 2 1 0 - - TUS 2009-10-10 09h 51m 9 4 2 1 2 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)
NTA – Northern Taurids (includes Antihelions)
STA – Southern Taurids (includes Antihelions)
ORI – Orionids
EPC – September Epsilon Piscids
ZTA – Zeta Taurids
OCU – October Ursa Majorids
The Transient Sky - Comets, Asteroids, Meteors 