(meteorobs) Quadrantids from Ottawa, Ontario

[Pierre Martin]

Hello,

I woke up at 4am this Thursday morning January 4th, and went to  
Boundary road, just east of Ottawa.  This is the first time I can  
remember ever seeing this meteor shower when the temperature is above  
freezing. The ground at the Stetsons Flyers was a bit icy but  
otherwise had almost no snow. What a treat!!

I must be a bit insane to get up so early to look for a meteor shower  
that was already well past the predicted peak (which is itself  
usually only short lived) under VERY brightly moonlit skies. Anyone  
with a reasonable mind would know better and stay in bed.  But I gave  
it a try. I went to Boundary road site with very low expectations  
only as to not be disappointed.  As if the Moon wasn't enough of a  
pain, I fought varying amounts of cirrus and strato-cirrus clouds! Yuck!

In one hour TeFF until dawn, I logged a pretty much just a small  
handful of meteors, all Quadrantids. They were mostly fast and brief,  
but some brighter meteors would sometimes startle me. The most  
spectacular by far was a fabulous mag -5 Quadrantid fireball well  
seen in the middle of a thick patch of cloudiness!!! (I'm not  
kidding!). I couldn't even see ANY stars in that area of the sky yet  
the fireball was very evident.  It swelled up to a strong blue-green  
color and there was a very pronounced halo of sorts due to the  
clouds.  Very nice effect! After the fireball abruptly disappeared, a  
sharp 3 second persistent train was still visible through the  
clouds!!!  I had a tough time deciding what mag to call it since I  
had NO reference stars or planets in the vicinity.  I decided to  
guestimate it a conservative mag -5.

Another noteworthy (non meteor) event was an unexpected mag -6 or so  
Iridium Flare moving into the clouds in the north. It took me by  
surprise.

A bit after 6am, I signed off from "official counting". I wrapped  
myself up in the sleeping bag.  Before I fell asleep, I casually  
spotted a few more Quads.  I woke up later in the morning after the  
Sun was up and drove to work.

I will post the meteor data tonight after I listen to the tape...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario