Oct 26/27 Meteors

Last night may be the last clear night for a while as a strong (but dry :() storm system sweeps through the desert southwest.

Meteor rates are still well above average. Even though we are a few days removed from the peak of the Orionids, they are still producing a good number of meteors. It is interesting to note that my system picked up ~8 possible members of the Beta Cancrids but Bob’s only saw a single possible member. The Beta Cancrids are a weak shower that has not been well characterized. With a velocity of 66 km/s, the shower was created by a long-period comet in a retrograde orbit.

Bob’s notes for the past 2 nights : “High clouds interfered with observing tonight. The waxing gibbous moon is also becoming a factor as it remains in the sky more of the night.”

Obs Date(UT)TotTime TOT SPO NTA STA ORI BCN ETT EGE LMI
TUS Oct-27  07h 59m  84  27  3   3   36  8   2   3   2
SDG Oct-27  10h 56m  61  25  6   5   20  1   2   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)
NTA/STA – Northern and Southern Taurids (includes Antihelions)
ORI – Orionids
OUI – October Ursae Minorids
BCN – Beta Cancrids
EGE – Epsilon Geminids
LMI – Leonis Minorids