Geminids 2010 – SPACE observation report
The year ended with one of the best meteor showers of the year putting in an appearance. Two teams from SPACE headed to two separate locations- Jim Corbett National Park and Sakras observing site. Both teams successfully observed a spectacular shower. The report and images are listed below:
Report -Geminids 2010 were predicted to yield a good ZHR of more than 100. Maxima - Dec 14th at 11h UT or 16:30 h IST ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate) - around 120. The best time to watch the activity near the peak in India was on 13th December night/early morning on 14th after moonset. SPACE planned observation of Geminids 2010 from two locations:
Location 1 – Jim Corbett Park, Ramnagar, Uttrakhand (29°26'24"N 79°4'35"E)
Location 2 – SPACE observation site, Sakras, Haryana (27°51'13"N 76°58'21"E)
Location 1 Team
SPACE observation team
Sachin Bhamba, C B Devgun, Surender Solanki, Jaishree Soin
Location 2 Team
Astronomicans
Deepak Jose, Deepak Dogra, Ishant, Vikrant, Sneh, Rishabh
Location 1 Experiments/observations planned:
Naked eye observation of the meteor shower
Photography of the shower
Estimating limiting magnitude for project dark skies
Equipment
:
Canon 450D with 18mm f 3.5 lens
Canon 500D with 18mm f 3.5 lens
Nikon D80 with leica 16 mm fisheye lens
Nikon D80 with Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens
Images plus software to control the camera
GPS for time keeping and location
Naked eye observation team:
Sachin Bahmba (SB), C B Devgun (CB), Surender Solanki (SS) and Jaishree Soin (JS)
Time of observation:
13th Dec. 2010
20:30 IST – 23:00 UT
Observation was done in following time spans (M=Shower meteor, S= Sporadic)
Reports have been sent to International Meteor Organisation (IMO)
period Time (UT) M S
period 2030-2045 12 2
period 2045-2100 18 1
period 2100-2115 12 5
period 2115-2130 10 2
period 2130-2145 15 2
period 2145-2200 20 0
period 2200-2205 25 0
period 2205-2210 30 1
period 2210-2220 20 0
period 2220-2230 19 0
period 2230-2235 35 2
period 2235-2240 45 4
period 2240-2250 18 0
period 2250-2255 40 4
period 2255-2300 25 3
Skies at the Location 1 were almost perfect having a limiting magnitude of almost 6. As the nearest city “Ramnagar” was 7 kms as the crow flies from the site in the jungle, skies were quite good except for the small amount of light pollution from the city in the south east. Observers mainly looked into directions of Leo and Orion for most of the time during observations. The shower intensified in bursts during short intervals of 5 mins at 2235-2240 and 2250-2255 UT. In all 344 meteor belonging to the shower were seen and 26 sporadic ones were seen.
Photography of the shower:
The shower was photographed for the same duration as that of the shower and around 10 frames got the Geminids meteors.
and the repository of SPACE soon.
Report sent to IMO by SPACE team at Location 1:
// Header section
night 2010-12-13/14
begin 2010-12-13 2030
end 2010-12-13 2300
observer "chander, sachin, " "devgun, bahmba"
location 79 04 35 E, 29 26 24 N
site "Jim corbett Tiger reserve" "India"
// Shower section
shower GEM 112 +33
shower SPO
// Number section
// Interval RA Dec Teff F Lm GEM SPO
period 2030-2045 090 +00 0.200 1.00 5.50 C 12 C 2
period 2045-2100 090 +00 0.200 1.00 5.50 C 18 C 1
period 2100-2115 150 +10 0.250 1.00 5.50 C 12 C 5
period 2115-2130 150 +10 0.200 1.00 5.50 C 10 C 2
period 2130-2145 090 +00 0.200 1.00 5.00 C 15 C 2
period 2145-2200 090 +00 0.200 1.00 5.00 C 20 C 0
period 2200-2205 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 25 C 0
period 2205-2210 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 30 C 1
period 2210-2220 150 +10 0.150 1.00 5.50 C 20 C 0
period 2220-2230 090 +00 0.150 1.00 5.00 C 19 C 0
period 2230-2235 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 35 C 2
period 2235-2240 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 45 C 4
period 2240-2250 090 +00 0.150 1.00 5.00 C 18 C 0
period 2250-2255 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 40 C 4
period 2255-2300 090 +00 0.080 1.00 5.00 C 25 C 3
// Magnitude section
// Show Interval -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 Tot
distribution GEM 2030-2100 1.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 6.0 14.0 1.0 - - - - - - 30.0
distribution GEM 2100-2130 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 - - - - 29.0
distribution GEM 2130-2145 - 2.0 - - - - 10.0 - 2.0 1.0 - - - - 15.0
distribution GEM 2145-2200 6.0 - - 3.0 - - 5.0 - 4.0 2.0 - - - - 20.0
distribution GEM 2200-2205 2.0 - 5.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 7.0 5.0 3.0 - 1.0 - - - 28.0
distribution GEM 2210-2220 - 2.0 3.0 - 4.0 - 6.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 - - - - 20.0
distribution GEM 2220-2230 - - 2.0 4.0 2.0 - 6.0 3.0 - - - - - - 17.0
distribution GEM 2230-2235 5.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 - - 15.0 - 1.0 1.0 - - - - 27.0
distribution GEM 2235-2240 7.0 1.0 3.0 - 2.0 - 12.0 - - - - - - - 25.0
distribution GEM 2240-2250 4.0 - - 1.0 - - 8.0 3.0 1.0 - - - - - 17.0
distribution GEM 2250-2255 - 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 2.0 10.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 - - - 30.0
distribution GEM 2255-2300 8.0 - - 2.0 2.0 - 7.0 - - 1.0 1.0 - - - 21.0
// Personal comments
SPACE (Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators) team observed the geminids from Jim Corbett Tiger reserve, a dark sky site 270 kms away from New Delhi, india. Sachin Bahmba, Surender Solanki and Jaishree soin were other observers from the SPACE Observers
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Location 2 Experiments/observations planned:
Following is reported by Vikrant Narang
4 Astronomicans - Deepak Jose, Deepak Dogra, Ishant and Vikrant had gone to Sakars for Geminids observation. Rishabh and Sneh also kept joining the observers team during their session breaks.
Experiments and Photography:
Visual observation: Vikrant, Ishant - Logged 214 meteors (Geminids + Sporadic) in 2 hours.
Astrophotography: Deepak Dogra, Deepak Jose, VIkrant Narang, Ishant, Sneh, RIshabh
