Geminids Observation

fizzy123 · Post by **fizzy123** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:53 pm

This was my report for the Geminids meteor shower. My bro, I and my other 2 frens went down to the jetty at C4/D1 sector the site, around 2130h. It was considerably dark and we managed to see M41,42,45. But soon, the peace was destroyed by a group of youngsters making a film on wake boarding. They shine the light very brightly thus we have to jettison the sight. In all, the site is wet and extremely slippery. Thus I dun advice ppl going ther alone as there is danger of falling into the sea if not careful enough with your footstep.

We decided to go to the changi beach instead to try our luck. Unfortunately, it was raining then, thus we waited till midnight for rain to stop. Miraculously, the sky cleared out superbly, and there is totally no high altitude clouds at all!! The bane was that the area was so bright that I don't need a torch to read my star chart.

We atarted observing at around 0020h.

0135h-- a meteor of around -1.5 mag, whizzed past from somewhere south dashing left of Castor towards the horizon, it was quite rapid and left behind no bright trail.

0151h-- around -2.0 mag, no trail, flew between the beta Aurigae and Capella towards the horizon. This one was quite short in duration as it seems to have disappeared quite immediately when we detected i't presence. I was some what dull white in colour.

0225h-- around 0.3-0.5 mag from South to Northern skies.

0307h--around 0.8mag-1.0mag. The meteor was not veri prominent and it flew between Procyon and and the faint stars of cancer.

0429h-- around 1.0-1.3 mag. This was faint and it also flew somewhere from South to the north.

0542h-- This one was bright, approximately, -2.5 to -2.8mag, it was rich in white and with tint of yellow. It was relatively slower than the rest and it flew from beneath castor Pollux region towards the Ura Majr region.

0602h--1.5-1.8 mag, seem to be the fastest of the lot that I record, quite faint.

In my sleepiness, I thought I saw around another 3 more, but they were relatvely faint, thus I didn't record them down. But I managed to see the M35 and M36 there with bino. I conclude Changi beach to be a good observing spot if not for the veri bright lights. The area literally enables you to have a completely unobstructed view of the northern sky. Another bad thing is it was very cold around 3 to 4 am

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 4:50 pm

Thanks for your report! Did you actually record everything?

Post by **zong** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:54 pm

wow fizzy.. how did you gauge the magnitudes when the meteors were so fast? I only can say "bright" or "average" brightness..

Anyway, about area C4/D1, I hope you did not go all the way to the beach.. that would be quite dangerous, and if you have a scope, it's goodbye to coatings because of the seawater..

but the patch of grass I usually use is along the canal area, relatively near to the beach, and is dry enough to do a lot of obs, and is also very dark. Maybe you got your area wrong ^^ RP and NJ do hold obs there very often and nothing dangerous happens!

Oops, abit off-topic. Yes, Geminids observation did become, funnily, a stargazing session instead for me. And without a scope, that was the joke! Together, the whole group had only 4 binoculars, and a Vixen A80 (weixing) that was left in the car boot because we were too lazy.. haha. But yes, even with a bino, we showed that we could see a lot of objects! the whole carina region was slowly checked by us, revealing quite many star clusters, including NGC 3372 cluster/nebula and eta carina cluster itself. Also saw the beehive M44 in cancer, M35 in gemini, M38 in auriga, all without the help of my atlas for the first time!

opteron · Post by **opteron** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:18 pm

anyone going tonight?

fizzy123 · Post by **fizzy123** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:27 pm

zong wrote:wow fizzy.. how did you gauge the magnitudes when the meteors were so fast? I only can say "bright" or "average" brightness..

Anyway, about area C4/D1, I hope you did not go all the way to the beach.. that would be quite dangerous, and if you have a scope, it's goodbye to coatings because of the seawater.. but the patch of grass I usually use is along the canal area, relatively near to the beach, and is dry enough to do a lot of obs, and is also very dark. Maybe you got your area wrong ^^ RP and NJ do hold obs there very often and nothing dangerous happens!

Oops, abit off-topic. Yes, Geminids observation did become, funnily, a stargazing session instead for me. And without a scope, that was the joke! Together, the whole group had only 4 binoculars, and a Vixen A80 (weixing) that was left in the car boot because we were too lazy.. haha. But yes, even with a bino, we showed that we could see a lot of objects! the whole carina region was slowly checked by us, revealing quite many star clusters, including NGC 3372 cluster/nebula and eta carina cluster itself. Also saw the beehive M44 in cancer, M35 in gemini, M38 in auriga, all without the help of my atlas for the first time!

Erm....... Zong actually we went all the way to the jetty itself, yes it was absolutely dangerous, recalling how the waves came splashing.

Yes I recalled my observation in a small note book. It was quite bright, thus I can record the observation easily. U should have tried Changi instead. There was very little activity and noise around, other than a few Malay families camping out there. I predict the magnitudes by comparing the magnitudes wih nearby stars it travel pass. It is only a rough gauge as the light pollution might affect the predictions.

fizzy123 · Post by **fizzy123** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:33 pm

I also happen to chance upon 2 satellites. The first was very interesting. It was quite dim and suddenly, it's magnitudes increase to around -2 and then dims back to around 1.5mag, dunno which satellite is it.

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:49 pm

Up-worthy in view of the upcoming Geminids 2010.