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Objects
seen in the brand new - 2004 ! |
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| 2004 finally arrived leaving behind the extremely wet December - taking the opportunity of the dryer weather, I resume my video patrol. Here are some examples of this attempt. Despite the presence of lunar - my prized catch is the big fireball. I also tried a "5 1/2-hours video recording" on Sunday Jan04 ( 240 minutes tape + 90min DV tape) from Zero hour onwards. Pre-dawn meteors rate was indeed much higher - Eleven meteors were from the DV tape compare with a handful from the video cassette recording. Sky Patrol missed quite a no of them. | |
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| (Above)"Rich_Vela " Fireball in Vela 2004 Jan 03 local time 3:42am in Vela/Carina. I left the tape running and woke up with sun shining outside ( 88:30am!) and watec still acquiring images. Luckily the ccd is not pointed at the sun. I quickly scanned through the still frames produced by sky patrol. This image jumped out at me - it was the brightest fireball I have captured so far. | (Above)Single video - frame of the Vela (2-degree long) fireball showing the thin jet stream tail. If you look closely the tail had a slight bend it it. (distortion from high altitude atm. current? ) Tape analysis revealed a flight duration of 3.6 seconds and magnitude rival of a typical bright iridium fare - minus 4 or 5. This fireball was very close to gamma Velid but trajectory does not support it to be a GVE. |
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| (Above) Jan 04 0:xx min Fireball from the 4 hours tape from o hr Jan04 to 4am. This is one of the best meteors detected on 4-hrs cassette tape. | ( Above) Jan 04 Crux- the Southern Cross and Meteor . |
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<-- A meteor inside the Crux the Southern Cross |
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| (Above a )New Year 2004 Jan 01- 0:42 am Surprise - This varying 'brightness' trail was created by a balloon-like object. At this hour no satellite body/debris will be visible as they are in earth's shadow. | (Above b) I manually repositioned the lens to 'follow' this object. Another view of - it eventually dimmed out ( gained height) and disappeared. |
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2004 Tally |
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| Month | Meteors | Fireball | Iridium | Sat | Comet | UFO | Misc | |
| Jan | 5+11+4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 |
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| Feb | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Mar | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
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2004 Log Details |
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| Date | Time | Method | Objects | Remark | |
| Jan 01 (Thu) | 00:41am | Video Recording ( watec 902H/25 mm f0.95 lens) | 'Balloon with instru. payload' | First 'strange' / UFO object on a less than 1 hr old brand new year! Tumbling was seen creating a twisted ribbon effect in integration video stacking.. a runaway weather balloon ..? Awaiting weatherman response. | |
| Jan 02/03 (Thu/Fri) | 11:30 pm- 01:00 am | Video Recording | 2 meteors - x1 'spray'-like slow meteor x1 white meteor crossing the FOV | - | |
| Jan 03 ( Sat) | ~03:43am | Video Recording | Detected a Very bright Fireball. | Meteor ( fireball) as bright as iridium flare. Total duration is over 3 and half sec. LM ~ 5 or 6 in Vela/Carina Border - very near False Cross. ?? Will check whether this fit the Gamma Velids(GVE) 35km/s | |
| Jan 03 (Sat) | 03:00-05:30am | Video Recording | Three meteors seems to be streaming from region from xx | Centaur / Crux areas?? | |
| Jan 03 (Sat) | ~8:31pm | Naked eye | Bright Iridium Flare ( -6 mag) | Another 'accidental' or chance encounter. I was looking out of my window then I saw a orange dot growing bigger and bigger and gradually dimmed out - the signature of a iridium flare. I took the bearing noted the time. A quick check on Heavens-above nailed Iridium #7 as the interloper. | |
| Jan 04(Sun) | 0:00-4am | Cassette recorder 240 minutes tape | x1 bright meteor and 3 others dim | ||
| Jan 04 | 4:15-5:45am | Video Recording | .. 11 meteors seen close to dawn! Two meteors were tiny and faint. | ||