(meteorobs) Observation September 3/4 2005

[Pierre Martin]

This morning session was spent under the *very* dark skies of Algonquin 
Provincial Park.  By the time the skies cleared, it was very late.  
Still, it was a very enjoyable experience to observe meteors under such 
a clear, pristine night!  The limiting magnitude exceeded 7th 
magnitude, M33 was an easy naked eye object and the faint Zodiacal Band 
was visible along the ecliptic going north of Mars and between the 
Pleiades and Hyades.  Low over the north, a faint aurora pulsated ever 
so slightly.  It was the kind of night one wished it would not end!

In the one hour teff of observing before morning twilight, I recorded 
19 meteors.  Sporadics were the main activity, but a few Alpha Aurigids 
and Antihelions were also seen.

The highlight was at 4:26 EDT with a very nice slow moving mag -2 
sporadic.  It had a very distinct blue changing to white color and had 
a short wake following.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: September 3/4 2005
BEGIN: 0810 UT (0410 EDT)  END: 0920 UT (0520 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -78 29' West; Lat: 46 01' North  Elevation: 1035 ft
City & Province: Brent, Algonquin Park, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting & cord align
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OBSERVED SHOWERS:_____________________________________radiant position
		DAU (Delta Aurigids)_____________________________03:36 +46
		ANT (anthelions)_________________________________23:44 -02		AUR 
(Alpha Aurigids)_____________________________05:48 +42
		SPO (random sporadics)
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OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____SPO_DAU_ANT_AUR

0810-0920__0159+12__1.16__7.12___14___0___2___3  =  19

*Note: SIA/ANT activity combined together

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
_______-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5__+6_____AVE

SPO_____1___0___0___0___0___3___5___3___2_____+3.86
AUR_____0___0___0___1___0___1___1___0___0_____+2.66
ANT_____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___1_____+5.50

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

F = 1.00

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

Dead time: None

Breaks (UT): None

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