(meteorobs) June Bootids observations of June 22/23 night...

[Pierre Martin]

Hi all,

Here's my impressions of the most memorable night of Tuesday June 22/23 
2004...

First, the drive to Arnprior (west of Ottawa) was interesting 
weather-wise!  About halfway there I saw a wonderful pattern of 
thickening cumulo-nimbus clouds silhouetted against the Sun.  The 
contrast between the dark clouds and blue sky was absolutely stunning.  
Then, a brilliant display of crepuscular rays right in front of me.  
One of the nicest I've ever seen.  Soon, a strong cold front 
materialized right in front of me.  As I was driving, it seemed like I 
was heading straight into a wall of really low menacing storm clouds.  
Just to my left, it seemed like a funnel cloud was in rotation! ... a 
very eery but beautiful effect.  But no tornadoes were spotted.  To top 
it off, a nice rainbow to the north-east.  By the time I reached 
Arnprior, the storm had passed and managed to just narrowly miss me.  
On the radio, there was all kinds of severe thunderstorm warnings.

After a quick stop at Timmy's to load up on coffee and cookies, I 
proceeded to Bootland and got there just after 8pm.  First thing I 
noticed was the nice big rectangular patch of nicely cut grass into the 
observing field for us (thanks for doing this Tom!).  I setup my meteor 
observing coffin, and then settled in for a well needed nap.  The 
temperature was warm and humid, and barely any wind, so needless to say 
that the mosquitoes were out.  There weren't nearly as many as I 
feared, but they were really vicious and persistent.  Up and above, the 
skies were almost all clear.  Low in the eastern sky I could see signs 
of the towering storm clouds somewhere above Ottawa.

When I woke up near 9:30pm, I got my plotting charts together and 
everything ready... including putting on some more mosquito repellents! 
  After the sunset, more and more stars were gradually coming out.  
Then, ground fog started forming but fortunately it all dissipated 
thanks to a light breeze.

At 22:14 EDT, while casually looking up (still in bright twilight), a 
mag +3 slow meteor appeared to the south!!  A quick check on its 
alignment revealed that it was a good candidate for June Bootid!  My 
first one!!!

As soon as the skies got reasonably dark enough to allow meteor 
recording, I settled into my coffin and signed-on at 22:27pm EDT.  For 
this session I faced south-west, and then later on to the west.

Once it got fully dark I was treated to the highest quality sky I've 
ever seen at Bootland Farm!  The transparency near zenith reached 4/4.  
The summer Milky Way was highly detailed with many, many faint wisps 
extending around Cygnus and Cepheus.  The dark lanes within the bulge 
of Milky Way in Ophiuchus were also quite apparent.  The Milky Way even 
seemed to touch the southern horizon.  Normally, I never see the Milky 
Way this well unless I'm out at even darker places like Foymount or La 
Vérendrye.  My limiting magnitude reached between 6.6-6.7, which is 
also the most I've seen at this site.  It was surprising to get such 
good transparency on such a quite warm and humid night.  It was a 
perfect night to be doing unaided eye observing.  The occasional 
mosquitoes attacks were the only nuisance.

Barely 3 minutes after I signed-on, a bright mag -2 blue June Bootid 
(JBO) travelled down into Hercules.  It was sublimely beautiful.  It 
left a really thick wake along its path for such a slow moving meteor!  
I shouted in loud excitement  Quickly, I then started plotting!  Then 
just as I plotted this, another potential JBO was seen!  I could feel 
my heart beating a bit faster.  (Before the start of the night, I had 
set my expectations low.  I figured that perhaps I would be lucky 
enough to see just a few JBOs late at night as the Earth approached the 
dust trails with the scheduled peak above the Pacific and Asia.)  I 
didn't expect to start seeing JBO activity so soon...

The JBOs were active every hour, with hourly rates of 6, 10, 14, 8 and 
9.

Here's the most memorable sights that come to mind...

- At 11:48pm EDT, a VERY slow JBO fireball of mag -3 into Corona 
Borealis.  It was almost pure white in color and left behind a really 
thick wake!  It was well seen and lasted a few seconds (which is a long 
time for any meteors).

- At 12:22am EDT, a PURE WHITE mag -3 JBO fireball into Ophiuchus.  It 
went for a long 15 degrees so it was very well seen!  Dramatic!!!

- At 12:53am EDT, a nice mag 0, blue JBO, delicate in appearance, with 
a long path and a small terminal flash.

- At 2:59am EDT - certainly the most colorful meteor of the night, and 
one of the most unique I've ever seen!!... A vivid BLUE to *VIOLET* 
coloured JBO well seen near the top of Bootes.  Due to foreshortening 
effect near the radiant, this meteor seemed to crawl ever-so-slowly, 
that it was almost like a fast-moving artificial satellite.  It left 
behind a thick bluish wake along its path.  What a sight!!!


I observed up until dawn for a total of 4.73 hours TEFF (effective 
observing time minus breaks + any time I spent not looking up).  
Altogether, I recorded a total of 90 meteors!  The June Bootids were by 
far the most active source with 47 members seen.  The remaining 
activity consisted of 4 Sagittarids, 4 Xi Draconids, 2 Theta 
Ophiuchids, 1 June Lyrid and 32 sporadics.

I managed to plot all the JBOs except for only 2 that were not well 
seen enough.  It was the most intense night of plotting I've ever done.

At 3:50am EDT, I signed-off of recording meteors due to brightening 
twilight, however I continued to just watch casually for another half 
hour.  At 4:03am EDT, a vividly blue mag 0 Sagittarid near-earthgrazer 
of 40 degrees long went by!  At 4:05am EDT, a very swift sporadic from 
the north apex shot by the zenith.  Finally, at 8:24am EDT, an 
unexpected mag -6 or -7 Iridium satellite flare appeared.  It was a 
stunning sight to end a really productive and rewarding night!


The following night (June 23/24) I observed for over 3 hours TEFF under 
decently clear skies (this time at a site just east of Ottawa) and 
found the JBO activity enhancement had ended.  However, there was quite 
a few meteors coming from the other sources to keep the session 
interesting.

It'll be interesting to see if June 26/27 brings a secondary JBO peak?  
Lets see what happens...

Clear skies all!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario