(meteorobs) Observation March 4/5 2006

[Pierre Martin]

Hi all,

Here's a very late report...

On the morning of March 5 before dawn, several observers setup at  
Boundary road, just east of Ottawa to catch Comet Pojmanski at its  
best despite the cold wind.  As I waited for the comet to rise higher  
up, I took advantage of the clear sky to do a brief meteor  
observing.  Despite being the slow season for meteors, I managed to  
see 6 sporadics.  No activity from the Delta Leonids or Virginids.   
Details follow...

As for the comet, it was easy to pick up with the 80mm Megrez.  It  
showed a nice blue-green coma, a faint outer halo and a very faint  
ion tail.  I was able to take some photos using a Nikon D70 with the  
18-70mm lens.  I simply setup the camera on the EQ platform to have  
tracking.  I didn't think I'd have much luck but I managed to capture  
the comet and even a hint of its tail!  I'm currently having  
difficulty accessing the Gallery web site - but when I find a  
solution I will post the picture.

Clear skies!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: March 4/5 2006
BEGIN: 0850 UT (0350 EST)  END: 0945 UT (0445 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North  Elevation: 300 ft
City & Province: Boundary road, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting & cord align
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:________________________________________radiant  
position
		DLE (Delta Leonids)______________________11:20 +15
		VIR - ECL (Virginids - Eclipticids)______11:48 +03
		SPO (sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____SPO_DLE_VIR

0850-0945__1553+20__0.67__6.00____6___0___0

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
______+1__+2__+3__+4__+5_____AVE

SPO____1___2___1___1___1_____+2.83

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: 14.83 min (breaks)

Breaks (UT): 9:05-12, 9:13 (30sec), 9:15-22