(meteorobs) Forty minutes of Teff from SW Florida USA

[Lew.Gramer at noaa.gov]

Last Thursday evening, 13/14 Dec, I had the opportunity to try for the Geminid
peak with two of my oldest friends and observing companions from the 1970s
and early 1980s. I joined Norm McLeod and Felix Martinez at the relatively dark
rural property of another old South Florida friend. We were almost completely
clouded out, however, by the confluence of outflow from tropical cyclone Olga,
and a cold front trying to move into the Straits of Florida from the north. These
same influences also wiped out Norman and me on the post-max night, Friday
14/15 Dec. However, on the peak night (13/14 Dec), I managed to glean some
40 minutes of observations IMO-style: although Teff=0.67 hr is too short a time
to be useful for analysis, it gave me an impression of the shower - with an LM
of 7.2, I had 18 GEMs and 5 Sporadics. This is surprisingly light for a Geminid
max night under relatively dark skies. Did others also find the mighty Gems to
be weaker this year than in earlier years?

PS: We also narrowly missed observing with IMO worthy Geert Barentsen: this
internet friend from Belgium was in Florida for the launch of an ESA payload at
Kennedy Space Center. We planned to meet max night, but somehow missed
each other. Hope your travels in Florida were fruitful, Geert!

Clear skies all,
Lew Gramer
South Florida