(meteorobs) Observation July 18/19 2006

[Pierre Martin]

Hello all,

It's been almost two months since my last meteor session - a long  
time - so I was much looking forward to the late-July increase in  
meteor activity.  Indeed, I finally got a decent stretch into the  
moonless window and the weather cooperated quite nicely!

On Tuesday July 18, I went to the Boundary Road site to join several  
other observers who were out with scopes.  Among them, Denis Legault  
was present with the MallinCam Hyper video astro camera and his 14"  
dobsonian on a tracking platform.  He provided a demonstration of the  
incredible sensitivity and resolving power that the camera could pull  
out of deep sky objects.  I also appreciated the red screen on the  
monitor to help reduce the loss of dark adaptation.  Denis's  
enthusiasm was evident as he went from one bright deep sky object to  
another...  each of them bursting with details just like you'd expect  
on a long exposure astrophoto.  The one object that I requested was  
UGC11466, the Arrowhead galaxy in Cygnus.  It is a fun and  
challenging object - fascinating to see another galaxy through the  
plane of our own Milky Way!  It's classified as a "peculiar spiral"  
galaxy due to its unusual shape caused by the dust in our galaxy  
giving it an unusual shape.  Within a few quick minutes, Denis  
expertly star hopped to the correct position and the tiny galaxy  
appeared on screen.  It displayed its trademark triangular shape and  
a even a dust lane clearly visible.  In my previous 14" dob, the  
galaxy itself was a smudge under the best of conditions.  To be  
honest, I've looked at this galaxy a number of times, under very dark  
skies in apertures up to 25" and the MallinCam with Denis's 14" scope  
blew any views I've had of it visually away.  In fact, it was a much  
clearer image than any long-time CCD exposure of the galaxy.  If this  
camera works so well for DSO's, I can just imagine the potential for  
meteor work.

Ok, on to meteors... I observed for a little more than an hour teff  
and quit at moonrise.  During that time, I saw 8 meteors.  The only  
notable meteor was a mag 0 white Perseid that moved straight up and  
left a brief wake in its path.  Details below...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: July 18/19 2006
BEGIN: 0230 UT (2230 EDT)  END: 0450 UT (0050 EDT)
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
		Cap (Alpha Capricornids)____________________19:32 -14
		Ant (Antihelion)____________________________20:16 -18
             	SDA (South Delta Aquarids)__________________21:56 -19
		PAU (Pisces Austrinids)_____________________21:56 -34
		PER (Perseids)______________________________00:20 +50
		ACY (Alpha Cygnids)_________________________20:15 +48
		SPO (sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_FIELD____Teff__LM_____SPO_SDA_CAP_ANT_PAU_PER_ACY

0230-0450__1951+27__1.25__6.12____4___1___0___1___0___2___0  =  8

Note: 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
_______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO____0___0___0___0___4___0_____+4.00
SDA____0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00
ANT____0___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00
PER____1___0___0___0___1___0_____+2.00

Note: 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: 65 min (breaks and plotting)

Breaks (UT): 2:42-3:22, 3:41-4:05