K. Chenna Reddy, D. V. Phani Kumar,G.
Yellaiah*
Department of Astronomy, Osmania University, Hyderabad
500007, India
Abstract. Based on 19 hours of effective visual observations with a
group of
5 observers, we detected a total of 2352 Geminid meteors from Japal -
Rangapur
Observatory, a low latitude station. From three days observations of
Geminid
meteor shower during 11-14 December, 2004, we observed that the peak
activity
of the shower occurred at 20:30 hrs UT on 13 December with a maximum
rate
of 257 meteors per hour. The Geminid meteor shower activity produced
more
number of faint meteors compared to bright meteors on the peak day. The
population index value is also high on the peak day of the activity
leading to a
conclusion that the shower contains more number of small size particles
at the
centre of the stream. Here we present an analysis of the activity
profile of the
shower, the magnitude and directional variation of the shower. The
luminosity
class distribution of the shower is also presented and discussed.
Keywords : Geminid meteor shower - visual observations - magnitudes - population index .