(meteorobs) Observation June 19/20 2004

[Pierre Martin]

Here's my report for June 19/20.  Under the dark skies of Foymount  
(Ontario), I enjoyed my most productive meteor session yet this year -  
even despite some cloudy periods/haze throughout the night.

The sky transparency reached it's peak at LM=6.8 around midnight, while  
the temperature was cooling down to only 5C with a light breeze.  Later  
on, some clouds kept moving in and out and the transparency decreased.

In the 3 hours teff, I recorded as many as 42 meteors!!  The consistent  
meteor activity made for a most enjoyable night.  The third hour alone  
had 21 meteors.

I plotted only one possible June Bootid candidate, a slow moving meteor  
in Lyra but the alignment was so far from the radiant (even assuming a  
diffuse one) so I decided to call it a sporadic.  Other shower sources  
were mildly active, including even some Theta Ophiuchids.  The random  
sporadics provided the most meteors with 27 seen.

The nicest meteor was at 3:35 UT when a mag +1 blue sporadic shot 40  
degrees into Hercules, leaving behind a 1 second train.
	
(Note: large dead time was due to sudden cloudy periods forcing me to  
stop.)

Clear skies!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: June 19/20 2004
BEGIN: 0305 UT (2305 EDT)  END: 0715 UT (0315 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77.304 West; Lat: 45.431 North  Elevation: 1800 ft
City & Province: Foymount, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_____________________________________radiant position
		JBO (June Bootids)_____________________________14:48 +48
		TOP (Theta Ophiuchids)_________________________16:04 -12
		SAG (antihelions or Sagittarids)_______________18:52 -23
		TAQ (Tau Aquarids)_____________________________22:20 -15
		JLY (June Lyrids)______________________________18:44 +35
		XDR (Xi Draconids)_____________________________18:44 +55
		CET (Tau Cetids)_______________________________01:12 -15
		DAR (Arietids)_________________________________03:32 +31
		NPX (sporadics from north apex)________________23:52 +14
		SPX (sporadics from south apex)________________23:52 -16
		SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)__FIELD___Teff__F_____LM___JBO_TOP_SAG_TAQ_JLY_XDR_CET_NPX_SPX 
_DAR_SPO

0305-0412__1419+16__1.00__1.00__6.80__0___3___0___0___0___0___/___0___/ 
___/___5
0412-0533__1632+11__1.01__1.00__6.78__0___0___1___0___1___0___/___0___/ 
___/__11
0553-0715__1720+18__1.01__1.00__6.53__0___1___4___0___0___2___/ 
___3___0___/__11

TOTALS:_____________3.02______________0___4___5___0___1___2___/ 
___3___0___/__27 =  42

The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken down as  
close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal Time. The  
second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I centered my  
field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents effective observing  
time (corrected for breaks or any time I did not spent looking at the  
sky). The fourth column (F) is a value for obstructions in the field of  
view such as clouds (1.00 = 100% clear skies). The next column (LM) is  
the average naked eye limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star  
counts. All following columns indicate the number of meteors for each  
shower observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
_____+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___2___8__11___6___3_____+3.00
TOP___0___1___2___1___0_____+3.00
SAG___1___0___2___2___0_____+3.00
JLY___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00
XDR___0___0___1___1___0_____+3.50

Note: Magnitude scale is to determine the brightness of sky objects.  
Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with the  
planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius, magnitude +2  
to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6 to +7 are the  
faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark conditions. A  
meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a fireball.  The above  
table contains the magnitudes from all observed meteors, and the  
average (last column) for showers.
------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV): None
------------------------

Dead time: 49.14 min. (7.14 min for plotting)

Breaks (UT): 3:07-3:11, 4:21-4:23, 4:36-4:45, 5:09-5:18, 5:33-5:53,  
6:02-6:20
-------------------------