(meteorobs) IMO METEOR SUMMARY REPORT: 09/10 Aug 2004, Lew Gramer (GRALE)
Lewis J. Gramer
lgramer at upstream.net
Fri Aug 20 21:03:47 EDT 2004
I forgot to mention - all of these IMO reports were done using my
Excel spreadsheet for meteors! If want to try it out, let me know!
Note that during this session, I was doing both COUNTING (i.e., just
noting magnitudes, showers, etc. on a clipboard) of any meteor that I
felt certain was a Perseids or an obvious Sporadic; but I was also
PLOTTING (collecting all of the above data, plus plotting the meteor
path on the sky with special IMO charts using "gnomonic projection".)
I did this combined approach (counting most, plotting some meteors),
since I wanted to observe as accurately as possible the SOUTHERLY
radiants active tonight - all of those radiants BESIDES the Perseids
(and the Kappa Cygnids) that occur at the same time, but which are
often poorly studied because observers are too far north, or simply
because most of us tend to focus on the Perseids this time of year!
So many of the meteors logged from the "Aquarid-Capricornid" complex
of radiants below - North Delta Aquarids (NDA), South Delta Aquarids
(SDA), South Iota Aquarids (SIA), Capricornids (CAP), and the Piscis
Austrinids (PAU) - are actually identified with their shower because
I plotted the meteor first, then figured out it was a member after.
(BTW I didn't try to match any meteors with the North Iota Aquarids.)
Of course, even when plotting from a good southern site, these five
radiants are so entangled that some meteors just can't be definitely
identified with only one of them. For these, I log the meteor using
the imaginary shower mnemonic "AQR" - meaning "generic Aquarid/Cap".
For anyone who wants some slightly more "active" or "challenging"
observing during the major showers in coming months, or if you just
want more practice plotting, this is a nice "combined" technique.
All that said, about midway through this night - and the rest of my
trip to Florida - the meteors got a little TOO intense for me, and
I just gave up plotting all together! :)
(BTW, the plot chart for this night will be postal-mailed to the IMO
Visual Commissioner in a couple of days.)
Clear skies!
Lew Gramer
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IMO METEOR SUMMARY REPORT
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Observer's Name: Lewis J. Gramer IMO Observer Code: GRALE
EVENING Date (UT): 09-Aug-2004 IMO Showers Active that Date:
MORNING Date (UT): 10-Aug-2004 KCG,NIA,CAP,SDA,NDA,SIA,PER,PAU
Session Start Time (UT): 04:10
Session End Time (UT): 06:26
Observing Site Location: Long Key State Park, FL, USA IMO Location Code:
Site Latitude: +24.82 Longitude: -80.81 Elevation: 0m
Observing Methods ("x" all that apply:)
X=Manual (pencil/paper) X=Plotting Charts
Showers Observed (Enter all IMO 3-letter or other shower mnemonics you used):
Shower Name Perseids N Del Aqr S Del Aqr S Iot Aqr
3-letter Code PER NDA SDA SIA
Longitude 043 335 349 339
Declination +58 -05 -13 -14
Radiant Size 5 5 5 5
Right Ascen. 02:52 22:20 23:16 22:36
Shower Name Capricornids Piscis Aus Kap Cyg Unspec. Aqr-Cap
3-letter Code CAP PAU KCG AQR
Longitude 318 352 284 -
Declination -06 -26 +58 -
Radiant Size 5 5 5 -
Right Ascen. 21:12 23:28 18:56 -
Summary of All Meteor Data for the Session
# Beg End CFV Teff LM F PER NDA SDA SIA CAP PAU KCG AQR Spor TOT
1 4:10 5:31 330+05 1.00 7.34 1.00 13 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 14 37
2 5:32 6:26 330+05 0.79 7.27 1.031 13 2 2 0 1 0 1 1 16 36
TOTALS 1.79 7.31 1.013 26 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 30 73
Average Magnitudes 2.87 3.83 4.17 4.33 3.5 3.25 3.5 3.5 3.52 3.35
IMO Visual Meteor Report - Lewis J. Gramer (GRALE), Night of 09-Aug-2004
LIMITING MAGNITUDES CLOUDS / OBSTRUCTIONS
Time Field Count LM Start End % Obscured Duration
4:41 6 42 7.2 6:12 6:26 10% 0:14
4:41 5 26 7.3
5:15 6 43 7.3
5:15 21 25 7.5
5:55 6 44 7.3
5:55 21 24 7.5
6:26 21 16 7.0
6:26 6 31 6.9
BREAKS
Start End Duration Breaktime
4:13 4:16 0:03 Per Period
4:47 4:48 0:01 Period 1 0:04
Period 2 0:00
DEADTIME 0:00:10 / meteor 0:00:50 / plot
Total - logs plus plots # Plots Per Period
Period 1 0:17:00 13
Period 2 0:06:50 1
IMO Visual Meteor Report - Lewis J. Gramer (GRALE), Night of 09-Aug-2004
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL
PER 1 1 0 3.5 5 4 6.5 4 1 26
NDA 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 2.5 0 0 3
SDA 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 1.5 1 0 3
SIA 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3
CAP 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2
PAU 0 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 1 0 0 2
KCG 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2
AQR 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2
Spor 0 1 1 0.5 3.5 6 10 7 1 30
TOTAL 1 2 1 4 10 14.5 23.5 15 2 73
TRAIN DATA - Totals
Meteors with trains: 12
Percentage with trains: 16%
Per Shower Train Data
PER NDA SDA SIA CAP PAU KCG AQR Spor TOTAL
Number 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12
Percent 35% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% 16%
GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT SESSION - Use as many lines as needed below this one...
Night began perfectly clear - very light breeze blowing through Florida strait.
Only after moonrise did stratocum. start to drift by, in classic Keys fashion.
Surely the most perfect of the four nights this week - for weather, at least.
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