2009 Leonids Observing Report

The prediction for the 2009 Geminid meteor shower called for a potential increase over and above the normal peak rate of from 60 to 100 meteors per hour. That peak was to occur around midnight on the night of December 13-14.

As usual, the weather forecast for that time frame originally called for heavy rain showers from Sunday (13th) afternoon until Monday (14th) morning. With that in mind it would have been logical to observe the night before, though the number of meteors would be much lower.

The problem was that Saturday (12th) night into Sunday morning the local temperature was around 17.5 degrees, with a strong wind that put the feel-like temperature in the teens (at least up in Pascoag, RI.) Despite that I stepped out onto my still snow covered (about 4-inches) porch around 11:55 pm.

The sky was cloud free, and I easily had a limiting magnitude of at least 5.5 at zenith. Immediately I observed one, then two, then three meteors in rapid succession. Though I had dressed for the cold, it didn’t take long for me to get really chilled. Within about 10-15 minutes I had counted six Geminids.

I would have loved to stay out there, but the cold and wind chill proved too much (yes, I got cold … and I was wearing more than my summer shorts and flannel shirt!) I quit at about 12:10am.

At one point Bob Horton had called to say that the Clear Sky Chart showed that the skies would now be clear around 2:00 am on Monday morning. Even the local weather guys said the rain would clear out early, but sometimes the clouds will linger.

So I decided I would get up around 2:00 am to see if indeed the skies were clear. Before I was going to go to bed I decided to look outside to check the sky conditions. It was completely clear. The temperature was a balmy 38 degrees, but I still dressed warmly so I could spend a couple of hours watching for ”burning rocks” to fall form the sky.

I began my observing run at 11:30 pm. Immediately I observed a couple of short meteors, about 2nd or 3rd magnitude. Then I’d see one or two that were as bright as Procyon, with longer duration. Most were white in color. Only a couple during my entire observing time showed any hint of color. Some went through Orion, Taurus, Leo and the Ursa Major. Though I did have a handful that reached just about magnitude -1 with an occasional one second or two train of dust, I did not experience any fireballs or bolides.

During the first hour (11:30 pm – 12:30 am) I counted a total of 19 Geminids. During the second hour (12:30am – 1:30 am) that rate had increased to 28. It appeared the rate was rising, but I decided to call it quits. 47 meteors in two hours of observing surpass what I’ve seen during the last year due to weather conditions and interfering Moon phases. I checked the temperature when I went inside. It had only dropped to 36 degrees.

For once we finally experienced a shower of meteors and not rain or snow! What a great way to spend an early morning.

Bob Napier, observing from North Scituate, RI

I observed 19 Geminids over a 45 minute time between about 3:00 and 3:45 AM Dec. 14. My view was restricted since I viewed toward Providence through a window from inside - too cold to stand outside. About one third of the 19 meteors were between about 0 and -1 magnitude and were visible for about and estimated two thirds the distance from zenith to horizon. The rest were in the 2nd or 3rd magnitude range with much shorter trails.

Tom Barbish, observing from Coventry, RI

Fortunately, the heavy rain stopped abruptly on Sunday (12/13/2009) evening at 9:30 PM in Coventry, R.I. The skies slowly cleared allowing for some meteor observing between the broken cloud cover. A very approximate peak count of 80 per hour was obtained with 10 to 40 percent cloud cover from 11pm until 02:00am. The meteor streaks were relatively short compared to the Perseids, and no persistent trails were observed. Several random, and possible Orionids were observed.

Pete Peterson, observing from Wishing Star Observatory, Barrington, RI

Geminids report 01:10 – 01:40 hrs, 14 Dec 09 Sticking my head out of the door as I headed for bed I find that the rain has stopped, the heavy fog has lifted and the sky has cleared. The air temperature is warm. Orion’s to the west of the meridian. Mars is high in the east. And Gemini is almost at zenith.

Climbing into my Aortic warmth coverall I’m out on the deck in a flash. It’s not a heavy meteor shower but I’m warm and enjoying the clear night sky. The meteors are simply frosting on the cake.

After half an hour I find myself nodding off so I call it a night. Didn’t record details, but during this period 7 meteors were observed. They ranged from 2nd magnitude to -2 magnitude, lasted from .5 to 1 second, and their sparkling paths were from 10 to 20 degrees long. Yes, they almost all sparkled! Very neat.

Roger Forsythe, observing from Warwick

I did get out for a half hour last night (morning of Dec. 14) around 12-12:30 and saw 11 meteors in that period. Long, 35-45 degrees in length average, and most were brighter than usual. At that time they were approx SSE and the radiant was high (nearly overhead). The skies cleared amazingly dark after so much precipitation. I would have stayed out longer but I am still recovering (hopefully) from pneumonia.

Tom Thibault, observing from Blackstone, MA

Morning of the 13th: I went out around 4:15AM on the 13th for some astrophotography and Geminid viewing. I stopped taking pictures and began looking to the west at 5:24 for meteors. I viewed for only 15 minutes till 5:39, temperatures were around 20 degree’s and I had already been out for more than an hour. I viewed 10 Geminid’s during the 15 minutes with one bright member with a long trail passing close by Mars. The shower was a good mixture of lengths and brightness originating from many angles all converging toward Pollux and Castor in the west.

Morning of the 14th: Began observing this morning at 4:18 with a obstructed view, I wasn’t up to challenging the cold and wet this morning so I sat in front of a large set of sliding doors (10 feet) with a view of the west below Pollux and Castor with some addition obstruction to the N.W. I viewed until 5:24 and counted 17 meteors of varying brightness and tail lengths again radiating from the direction of Gemini. Assuming an equal distribution of meteors, a guess of between 34 – 40 meteors could have been seen per hour.

Mike Umbricht, walking through a parking lot in Providence, RI

I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, I was not observing, just walking through a parking lot in the city. I saw the meteor on Fri. probably sometime around 9:30 - 10:30 pm. I noticed it near the zenith and it was moving almost due west, but did not move very far from the zenith. It was about as bright as Venus and had a very intense blue color. There were flickering pinpoints of light surrounding it. Between the hazy sky conditions, my eyes were not dark adapted and the intense parking lot flood lights I could not see any stars near the zenith below about 2.5 mag.

Bob Horton, observing from Foster, RI

I got up at 2am on the morning of December 14th, and found the sky to be beautifully clear. I made myself a cup of hot tea, and then rolled the roof back on my observatory to do some viewing and photography of the Geminids.

Meteor activity from 2:15 until about 3am seemed a little slow, about one meteor every 2 or 3 minutes. During this time, most of these meteors were about 1st and 2nd magnitude, but a couple were as bright as 0 magnitude. After 3am, I noticed a definite increase in activity, and from about 3am to 3:45am I was seeing as many as three meteors every minute. Again, most of these were in the magnitude 1 to 2 range, but I did observe quite a few more bright meteors, some as bright as - 2.5 magnitude.

Most of the meteors I observed were fast moving, appearing as sharp streaks of light, lasting a second or less. Meteor activity seemed to be declining from four o’clock on, but I continued observing until 5:30am. At that point I was getting pretty cold, so I decided to close up my observatory and head back inside.

The most impressive meteor I saw that morning was a bright, slow moving meteor around 3:30am. I would estimate the magnitude to be about minus 2. What was so interesting about this meteor is that rather than appearing as a streak of light, it looked like a perfectly defined little bead of light, glowing bright blue-white in color. I saw it travel out of the constellation of Gemini and on into the constellation of Auriga, taking about 3 seconds before disappearing. As it traveled, it did leave an ionization trail behind it. However, this trail did not linger and disappeared about the same time the meteor disappeared from view.

I shot two rolls of film, and I am pretty sure I caught a few meteors that morning. Unfortunately, my camera was not pointing in the right direction when that really impressive meteor fell. But just like fishing, I can tell the story about the big one that got away.

Jim Hendrickson, observing from East Beach, Charlestown, RI

Early forecasts had called for unfavorable conditions on Sunday night, peak night for the Geminids, so I decided to take advantage of a clear Saturday night. Jack Szelka announced at the December meeting that he planned to observe from East Beach on Saturday night rather than make the trip on a work night, and invited all in attendance to join him. Jack, Joe Sarandrea, Dolores Rinaldi, and myself carpooled down to Charlestown on what was a spectacularly clear night. Mercedes Rivero-Hudec joined us shortly after we arrived. Given how cold and windy the previous night was, it was quite bearable with only a slight breeze from the west down at the beach.

We arrived at about 20:00 and the show had already started, with Gemini well above the horizon in the east. The winter Milky Way provided a spectacular backdrop with the sound of crashing waves nearby.

Not long after arriving, there was one spectacularly brilliant, pale blue Geminid that sliced through the Milky Way just east of Sirius. It was the longest-lasting meteor I saw, lasting approximately 4 seconds and leaving a brief train. It peaked about magnitude -2.

Jack and I set up our telescopes to take advantage of the dark skies in case the show didn’t pan out. Mars had risen soon after we arrived, but we decided to wait about an hour before giving it a look through Jack’s 12-inch. He got it set up and focused, then invited me to come over and take a look. As I was approaching the telescope, from about 1 meter away, I saw a green light emanating from the eyepiece of his finderscope. Thinking he had an illuminated eyepiece I continued to approach the main telescope eyepiece when everyone behind me shouted out, nearly in unison, “Wow, look at that green one!” I missed it, or did I? I soon realized that Jack did not have an illuminated eyepiece, I had seen the reflection of the meteor in the eye lens! A short while later, after we had spent some time gazing at some of the season’s best Messiers through Jack’s 12-inch and my Pronto, we were all seated facing southeast, waiting for the next big one. After a lull lasting several minutes, a 1st magnitude yellow Geminid sliced right through the Pleiades.

In total, I saw approximately 30 Geminids during our 5 hour session, most were short streakers low in the south, average length was about 10 degrees and about 4th magnitude. I did count 4 that were magnitude 1 or brighter. I’m sure my count would have been higher if I hadn’t spent much of the first 2 hours poking around the sky with my telescope, but nevertheless this was the best Geminids display that I have seen in recent times.

Jack Szelka, observing from East Beach, Charlestown, RI

On the evening before the peak, of the December Geminids Meteor shower, a small group of Skyscrapers members, went to East Beach, In Charlestown, RI, to observe the show. Although the weather was quite cold, the skies were very clear with average transparency and average seeing. The wind was very calm which made the cold bearable.

We brought along 2 scopes, a 12.5 inch Dobsonian and I believe a 70mm Tele Vue refractor. The early evening was not very active with meteors, but we got in some nice views of some deep sky objects. Later that evening the meteors started to appear. I can estimate we saw between 30 to 40 nice shooters. 2 large slow moving meteors were observed that were green in color and shed some sparks in the tail, one of which left a brief smoke trail.

We observed for about 4 hours. Unfortunately the wind started to pick up and everyone was just too cold to stay longer.

In all, it was well worth the trip to dark sky’s as the weather on Sunday, the peak night, was not very good.

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