(meteorobs) Observation October 5/6 2005

[Pierre Martin]

Hello all,

I'm finally catching up with old reports.  Better late than never! ;0)

This year, there was a possibility for some Draconids in early October. 
  I managed to observe on two nights during the pre-max period to find 
out if any early Draconids might be observable.

The conditions were ideal to observe on the evening of October 5, so I 
went to Bootland Farm (west of Ottawa).  Despite a smog warning, and 
near record high daytime temperatures, the skies were quite clear with 
the exception of some haze/pollution around the horizons.  In fact, 
this was the most comfortable October evening that I can ever remember. 
  For a good part of the evening, I remained in t-shirt.

I had quite an enjoyable session.  In a little more than 4 hours teff 
under 6.4-6.5 mag skies, I recorded 44 meteors.  The sporadics seemed 
to be producing normally.  I found a few fast meteors that radiated 
from near the border of Andromeda and Pegasus.  The Draconids were 
quiet.

The highlight is no doubt the spectacular sporadic fireball at 10:42pm 
EDT, my brightest meteor of the year so far!!  I was facing the 
north-west, and the meteor appeared in the south.  In my field of view, 
I saw the triple terminal bursts that lit up the skies in a soft blue 
light, just like lightning!  I quickly turned around and saw the end 
path of the meteor before it faded away.  Judging by the flashes, I 
estimated the fireball at magnitude -7 or possibly a bit higher.  For 
the 30 seconds that followed, a brilliant 12 deg blue train glowed in 
the meteor's wake, and twisted into a corkscrew pattern.  It was a 
dramatic sight!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: October 5/6 2005
BEGIN: 0205 UT (2205 EDT)  END: 0845 UT (0445 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North  Elevation: 200 ft
City & Province: Bootland Farm (near Arnprior) Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting & cord align
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_____________________________________radiant position
		ANT (STA and NTA combined)_______________________02:04 +12
		ORI (Orionids)___________________________________05:52 +14		DAU 
(Delta Aurigids)_____________________________06:16 +49
		GIA (Draconids)__________________________________17:28 +54
		SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____SPO_GIA_ANT_DAU_ORI

0205-0305__1842+55__1.00__6.41___11___0___0___0___0
0305-0406__1914+57__1.02__6.43____6___0___1___0___0
0535-0717__2214+45__1.00__6.41____8___0___3___0___1
0717-0845__2349+62__1.36__6.48____8___0___4___1___1

TOTALS:_____________4.38_________33___0___8___1___2  = 44

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 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
______-7__-6__-5__-4__-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5_____AVE

SPO____1___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___2___5___7__12___6_____+3.15
ANT____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___2___2___3_____+3.75
ORI____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___1___0_____+3.00
DAU____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00

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

F = 1.00

------------------------

Dead time: 48.66 min (incl 2.33 min breaks)

Breaks (UT): 4:06-5:35, 5:41-44, 6:17-54, 8:02-07, 8:23 (30sec), 8:27 
(20sec), 8:40 (30sec)

-------------------------