(meteorobs) Bootid obs, Sharon Massachusetts, June 23/24
Richard Kramer
kramer at sria.com
Thu Jun 24 00:22:02 EDT 2004
With dewpoint in the low 40's I would have hoped for better than the barely
4 LM, even here in the midst of the east coast megalopolis.
Fireflies remain active in the treetops.
A serene, comfortably cool hour + of observation yielded 3 sporadics and my
second ever Bootid along with 3 satellites, myriad airplanes, and one
single mosquito (now deceased). 2 of the sporadics left brief, but long,
green traces. Two were very fast and the third, travelling some 30 degrees
from N to S along the meridian, was fast.
The single Bootid was memorable. At first I thought I was looking at
another high declination satellite. But next, I noticed an extremely tiny,
barely visible trail. I first spotted it just SE of the end of the Big
Dipper's handle. It headed NE roughly parallel to the handle at a very
leisurely pace. It was visible for about 6 seconds, perhaps a bit more
since, when I first noticed it, it was at the edge of my field and I had to
turn my head to follow it. At first it was a steady magnitude 2 and didn't
show any distinct color. After about 4 seconds it flared to mag -1 and
showed an incredibly beautiful sunflower yellow for about a second before
flaring out to invisibility during the final 1/2 second or so. In all, I
watched it traverse about 20 degrees. It left me with the impression that I
had seen some sort of ballet. Track and speed leave little doubt that it
was a Bootid.
---------
Richard Kramer Sharon MA USA
71 deg 10.87 min W 42 deg 6.53 min N Elev 220 ft
EDT 22:30 23 Jun to 23:35 23 June
UTC 02:30 24 Jun to 03:35 24 June
Shower observed June Bootids JBO
24 June 2004
UTC Teff LM JBO SPO Total
02:30 - 03:00 0.48 3.5 0 2 2
03:00 - 03:35 0.55 4 1 1 2
Magnitude Distributions
-1 0 1 2 3 4
JBO .5 0 0 .5 0 0
SPO 0 0 1 1 1 0
Notes:
1. Sky clear
2. 10% obstruction by trees on NW perhiphery
3. Center of view just south of Corona Borealis
4. Temp 65F decreasing to 62F, winds very light and variable
More information about the Meteorobs
mailing list