(meteorobs) Observation April 25/26 2006

[Pierre Martin]

Hello,

Here's a short meteor report from Tuesday evening.  Shane Finnigan  
and I were on the road south of Ottawa near Spencerville.  We stopped  
along a quiet road to do some observing.  The skies were impressive  
for a site relatively close to Ottawa.  By keeping the light dome  
from Ottawa due north, it was easy to forget about it and get the  
impression of being located at a much more remote site.  The limiting  
magnitude was 6.5 under a good transparent sky.  For about one hour  
teff, meteor activity was fairly low.  A few faint Virginids and  
sporadics but nothing impressive.  The skies were beautiful though.   
I also enjoyed Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 through Shane's 120mm ED  
refractor.  The brightest component was also an easy sight through my  
9x63mm binos including the tail.  It was a short but enjoyable night  
to be out, but near the end, the dropping freezing temperature and  
rising humidity took me by surprise.

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: April 25/26 2006
BEGIN: 0332 UT (2332 EDT)  END: 0440 UT (0040 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75 38' West; Lat: 44 54' North  Elevation: 300 ft
City & Province: Spencerville, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting & cord align
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:________________________________________radiant  
position
             LYR (Lyrids)_____________________________18:08 +34
             VIR - ECL (Virginids - Eclipticids)______15:00 -17
             SPO (sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____SPO_VIR_LYR

0332-0440__1425+09__0.93__6.48____3___3___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
______+3__+4__+5______AVE

VIR____1___1___1_____+4.00
SPO____0___2___1_____+4.33

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: 10.75 min (breaks) + 1.33 min (plots) = 12.07 min

Breaks (UT): 3:59-4:09, 4:39(45sec)