Lots of bright meteors last night… The Geminids are really ramping up nicely with rates that appear to be twice as high as the previous night. One great thing about the Geminids is that they are visible during most of the night. Unlike most showers which can only be seen during the morning hours, GEMs can be seen within a few hours of sunset.
With the peak scheduled for Sunday night, we are at T-2 nights and counting. Unfortunately for me, the weather forecast still looks horrible for Tucson.
Bob’ notes for the night of Dec 9/10 : “Skies were mostly clear with only thin cirrus during the evening hours. Lower clouds from an approaching front interfered during the morning hours and eventually forced a premature end to the session. The Puppid-Velids and Monocerotids were unusually active tonight.”
Obs Date(UT) Time TOT SPO ANT GEM HYD MON PSU PUP DAD DLM TUS 2009-12-11 10h 53m 59 20 3 22 4 4 0 1 1 3 SDG 2009-12-11 09h 55m 26 6 1 12 0 4 0 3 0 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
HYD – Sigma Hydrids
MON – Monocerotids
PSU – Psi Ursae Majorids
PUP – Puppids/Velids
DAD – December Alpha Draconids
DLM – December Leonids Minorids
The Transient Sky - Comets, Asteroids, Meteors 