December 2015 Geminids Adventure! (Part 1 of 2)

As you may know, Raymond and I will go almost anywhere in North America to seek out clear skies to fulfill my passion of seeing, photographing and recording meteor shower events and for Raymond, to join me to experience them also.

So early in 2015, I told Raymond that it will be an excellent year to see December’s Geminid meteor shower once again.  We talked it over and decided to do another road trip to see them.  The Geminids have long been my favourite annual meteor shower, with reliable displays year after year.  Travelling south to see them is great not only to escape clouds, but also enjoy milder climates 😉

The closer we were for the big day to start off on our trip, the worst it was with the cloud cover all across North America with one exception — the State of Texas!  Raymond and I had not planned to travel so far out to see this meteor shower but the prospects were excellent with moonless conditions. We talked it over and decided to go way south this time.  Prior to leaving Ottawa, we looked and looked for a suitable astronomy site with cloud free skies within Texas.  We exchanged emails with potential locations, until I found an intriguing site and asked for Raymond’s opinion.  He looked at my discovery, and again we had a winner!

Our trip was to the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus; an amateur astronomer’s facility financially supported by Three Rivers Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, a private, non-profit organization which provides art and science education as well as outreach for the youth in the near and wider communities of Crowell Texas. See https://www.3rf.org

So off we go to Texas, the land of ranches, cowboys and cheap T-bone steaks.  And for us two; the land of big, beautiful and dark skies.

The Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus started as an original 50 acre donation from the McAdams Ranch thanks to a passion for nature conservation by the late Bettie B. Gafford.  Additional land acquisitions in 2009 and 2010 expanded the campus property to its current size of 700 acres.

Located at the heart of Big Ranch Country in north central Texas, this is the home to telescopes, observatories and indoor and outdoor classroom space, the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus serves visitors from across Texas, the U.S. and from around the globe.  Visitors enjoy programs covering topics ranging from astronomy to environmental and earth science.  This 700-acre facility lies in a corridor of very dark skies that stretches from outside the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex to Amarillo.

The buildings on campus include a roll-off observatory, a dome structure, outdoor observation platforms and an area for individual telescopes with electrical outlets.  The site facilities are indoor and outdoor classrooms, four bunkhouses capable of housing up to 65 overnight guests, 12 RV spaces, 3 outdoor pizza ovens, an adjoining pavilion and a large new shower/restroom facility.  The site is internet friendly due to their 150Mbps backbone to the outside world and Wi-Fi antennas throughout the grounds.

Once we arrived there, we met with Jeff Barton, Director of Astronomy.  Mr Barton showed us around the site, then sat down in the spacious room for a lovely chat.  Mr Barton spoke about their commitment to purchase three of each telescope type for the Foundation when possible, their mandate for education, various astronomy topics and their future plans.  The Foundation wishes to expand certain facilities, increase their number of star parties and build a digital planetarium projecting round stars.

At the time of our visit, the roll-off observatory housed a 30-inch, 20-inch and two 18-inch reflecting telescopes; remember their commitment of three of each, well this 30-inch is one of three that they own.  The main dome houses a 15-inch refractor, the largest telescope of this type in Texas that is used on a regular basis for public events (and of the same aperture as the one at the Science&Tech Museum here in Ottawa).  Attached to it is a classroom serving school and scouts visits, as well as an alternate location for small programmes in case of inclement weather.

The long trip to get there was worth it.  The night sky at Comanche Spring is one of the darkest Raymond and I have seen to for a long time.  As with Irvine Lake Airstrip (Nirvana), it is classed as a 2 on the Bortle Scale, but this place is even slightly darker than Nirvana (i.e. mag 7.0-7.5 skies).

The Bortle Scale 2 is described as:
• the zodiacal light is distinctly yellowish and bright enough to cast shadows at dusk and dawn
• airglow may be weakly visible near horizon
• clouds are only visible as dark holes against the sky
• surroundings are barely visible silhouetted against the sky
• the summer Milky Way is highly structured
• many Messier objects and globular clusters are naked-eye objects
• M33 is easily seen with naked eye
• limiting magnitude with 12.5″ reflector is 16.5

Another benefit of this site is its latitude of about 34 degrees north.  This latitude provides the observer a glimpse of some of the southern constellations; examples of constellations are Grus and Vela; example of star is Canopus (second brightest in the sky).

Our first and second nights were concentrated on the Geminids and they were absolutely wonderful!  Both nights had intense meteor activity as we saw and photographed hundreds of meteors darting non-stop across ink black skies! (Detailed reports on these to follow in parts 2 and 3).  Without a doubt my most productive Geminid year!!

The following nights were more casual but just as stunning — a mix of meteor observing, astro-imaging, comet hunting and casual observing, along with with howls hooting, coyotes howling and deer leisurely walking around us.  During one night, Raymond and I heard at least four separate bands of coyotes on their property.  I sure wished the nights would not end!

Our time spent there observing was amazing!  The entire facility staff was very helpful, friendly and accommodating.  It was also a treat to meet David Drummond, a very well-known and respected storm chaser who works for KCBD NewsChannel 11.  David stayed an additional night to observe the Geminids with us.  The foundation kindly offered to lend us their TeleVue 102mm APO Renaissance and Coronado SolarMax 90 telescope for our uses while we were there.

So this is another astronomy site gem that we truly enjoyed and will no doubt re-visit in the future.  If you are in the area, stop by to enjoy the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus’ accommodation, warmth and night sky.  It’s recommended to call ahead of time to make arrangements.  ***NOTE: As of 2018, the campus is currently closed for construction.***

Raymond and I wish to thank the President, Brian Allen and their Director of Astronomy, Jeff Barton for their warm and open generosity.

Here’s a Gallery of a few images that will give you a taste of our trip experience.  I know that Raymond took several photos as well.

https://pmartin.smugmug.com/Astronomy/2015121317-Astronomy-Trip-to-T/Comanche-Springs-Astronomy-Cam/

 

Here’s the results for the first night of Geminids, which was the night of maximum activity.

The session started a bit later than planned, as we setup our cameras, aligned our tracking mounts and then had to wait for a few lingering cloudy periods to move away.  Then… it was clear … and …  WOW!!! … was it EVER clear!!!  The limiting magnitude topped at nearly 7.2, one of the darkest skies I’ve ever seen.  The Zodiacal light was glowing very evidently, the Zodiacal band was visible, and the Milky Way displayed a wealth of intricate structure.  The horizons were dark with the exception of a couple of very faint (barely noticeable) glows at the eastern horizon.  Temperature was a very mild and dry +4C.  Already, the meteors were flying right and left as I settled into my chair and I couldn’t wait to get going.  I started formal observing at midnight, and went on all the way to 6:30am morning dawn.  Humidity and fog rose towards morning, and this caused a small drop in LM.

A total of 507 meteors was observed in the span of five hours!  It was full of Geminids, with 98 seen in the first hour alone, not including the occasional sporadics and other minor showers.  The second hour was even stronger with 107 Geminids!  They were generally well spaced apart, but in several instances, I saw two or three Geminids appearing nearly simultaneously in the sky!  Most of the them were of average brightness, with occasional bright ones thrown into the mix.  The brighest was a mag -4 blue-green Geminid fireball seen during the second hour.  The most impressive meteor was however not a Geminid but a very slow mag -1 sporadic that travelled a length of 40 degrees, lasting several seconds and turning yellow-to-orange!  On top of the very successful visual observations, this night also marked my most successful ever for meteor photography!  As you will see on my Smugmug page, I’ve captured a plethora of Geminids!

Night of Dec 13/14 2015 photos (scroll down the webpage to see each images & captions):

https://pmartin.smugmug.com/Astronomy/2015121317-Astronomy-Trip-to-T/20151213-Geminids-at-3RF-in/

Detailed data below:

December 13/14 2015, 06:00-12:35 UT (00:00-06:35 CST)
Location: Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus (near Crowel), Texas, USA
(Long: -99.957 West; Lat: 33.991 North)

Observed showers:
Anthelion (ANT) – 06:16 (094) +23
Monocerotids (MON) – 06:52 (103) +08
Geminids (GEM) – 07:33 (113) +32
Sigma Hydrids (HYD) – 08:24 (126) +02
Dec. Leonis Minorids (DLM) – 10:08 (152) +35
Psi Ursa Majorids (PSU) – 11:44 (176) +42
Dec. Alpha Draconids (DAD) – 13:52 (208) +58

06:00-07:00 UT (00:00-01:00 CST); clear; 5/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 7.17; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr; temp: +3C
GEM: Ninety-eight: -1(2); 0(5); +1(8); +2(18); +3(24); +4(23); +5(17); +6(1)
MON: three: +2; +4; +5
ANT: two: +2; +4
HYD: one: +5
Sporadics: four: +2; +3; +4; +5
Total meteors: One-hundred-eight

07:00-08:31 UT (01:00-02:31 CST); clear; 5/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 7.13; facing S50 deg; teff 1.01 hr; temp: 0C
GEM: One-hundred-seven: -4; -2(2); -1(3); 0(5); +1(7); +2(15); +3(28); +4(23); +5(21); +6(2)
HYD: three: +1; +3; +5
ANT: two: -1; +5
MON: one: +4
Sporadics: four: +2(2); +3(2)
Total meteors: One-hundred-seventeen

08:31-09:32 UT (02:31-03:32 CST); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.87; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr; temp: -1C
GEM: Ninety-three: -2; -1; 0; +1(7); +2(15); +3(24); +4(25); +5(19)
MON: three: +1; +2; +4
HYD: two: +3; +4
DLM: one: +2
Sporadics: nine: -1; 0; +2(2); +3; +4(3); +5
Total meteors: One-hundred-eight

09:32-11:16 UT (03:31-05:16 CST); clear; 3/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.65; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr; temp: -3C
GEM: Eighty-five: -3; -2; -1(2); 0; +1(7); +2(15); +3(23); +4(24); +5(11)
MON: five: +1; +4(4)
HYD: four: +1; +3; +4(2)
ANT: three: +3; +4(2)
DAD: one: +4
Sporadics: two: +3; +5
Total meteors: One-hundred

11:16-12:35 UT (05:16-06:35 CST); clear; 3/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.52; facing S50 deg; teff 1.05 hr; temp: -4C
GEM: Fifty-eight: -3; 0; +1(8); +2(9); +3(12); +4(15); +5(12)
MON: one: +4
ANT: one: +3
Sporadics: fourteen: 0; +1; +2(2); +3(3); +4(2) +5(5)
Total meteors: Seventy-four

============================================================
SHORT PERIODS (number of meteors, in 5 minutes TEFF periods)

06:00-06:05 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: four
06:05-06:10 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: eleven; MON: one
06:10-06:15 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: four
06:15-06:20 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: six
06:20-06:25 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: nine
06:25-06:30 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: five; SPO: two
06:30-06:35 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: twelve
06:35-06:40 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: ten; HYD: one
06:40-06:45 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: nine; MON: one; SPO: two
06:45-06:50 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: sixteen; MON: one; ANT: one
06:50-06:55 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: eight
06:55-07:00 UT; FOV RA 081 dec -10; LM 7.17; teff 0.083; GEM: four
07:00-07:05 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: thirteen; SPO: one
07:05-07:10 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: nine; ANT: one; HYD: one
07:10-07:15 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: three; HYD: one; SPO: one
07:15-07:20 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: seven
07:20-07:25 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: ten; HYD: one
07:25-07:30 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: four; SPO: one
** BREAK 07:30-08:00 **
08:00-08:05 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: three; ANT: one
08:05-08:10 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: fifteen; MON: one
08:10-08:15 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: ten; SPO: one
08:15-08:20 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.077; GEM: nine
08:20-08:25 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: seven
08:25-08:30 UT; FOV RA 095 dec -09; LM 7.13; teff 0.083; GEM: fourteen
08:30-08:35 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: seven; HYD: one
08:35-08:40 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: eleven
08:40-08:45 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: six; SPO: one
08:45-08:50 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: eight; DLM: one; SPO: two
08:50-08:55 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.066; GEM: four
08:55-09:00 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: five; MON: two; SPO; two
09:00-09:05 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.077; GEM: four; SPO: one
09:05-09:10 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: six; MON: one
09:10-09:15 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: nine
09:15-09:20 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: twelve; HYD: one
09:20-09:25 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: ten; SPO: three
09:25-09:30 UT; FOV RA 111 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: eleven
09:30-09:35 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.87; teff 0.083; GEM: seven; MON: one
09:35-09:40 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: six
** BREAK 09:40-10:06 **
10:06-10:11 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: ten; SPO: one
10:11-10:16 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: seven; ANT: one
10:16-10:21 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: five; HYD: one
10:21-10:26 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: six; ANT: one; HYD: one; MON: one
10:26-10:30 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.066; GEM: four
** BREAK 10:30-10:37 **
10:37-10:42 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: four; MON: one
** BREAK 10:42-10:53 **
10:53-10:58 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: twelve; SPO: one
10:58-11:03 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: nine; MON: one; DAD: one
11:03-11:08 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: nine; HYD: one
11:08-11:13 UT; FOV RA 124 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: five; ANT: one; MON: one
11:13-11:18 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.65; teff 0.083; GEM: eight; HYD: one; SPO: two
11:18-11:23 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: six; MON: one; SPO: one
11:23-11:28 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.075; GEM: four
11:28-11:33 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: three; SPO: one
11:33-11:38 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: six; SPO: one
11:38-11:43 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: five; SPO: one
11:43-11:48 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: six
11:48-11:53 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: five
11:53-11:58 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.083; GEM: three; SPO: two
11:58-12:04 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.52; teff 0.091; GEM: five; SPO: three
** BREAK 12:04-12:10 **
12:10-12:13 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.30; teff 0.050; GEM: four
** BREAK 12:13-12:22 **
12:22-12:27 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.10; teff 0.083; GEM: five; ANT: one; SPO; two
12:27-12:35 UT; FOV RA 138 dec -05; LM 6.05; teff 0.133; GEM: two; SPO: one

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario