(meteorobs) Tale of the tape

[Mikhail Maslov]

Many thanks for your message, Bruce.
Seems to be that really it was a very minor Draconid activity around 7
October. I can't say if it is connected to trails I named in the
prediction or is produced by some other factors. Posting information
about possible meteor enhancements, I prefer to do it even if there is a
quite small possibility of any positive results, as I should give
observers to know when to observe and where to look at. Also, I
consider my estimations of ZHRex quite conservative, so if prediction
is generally correct, then real activity could be stronger than
predicted levels and that is the reason I post information about cases
with ZHRex of 1-2 meteors, which are normally not reliably
detectable themselves, if real activity is not higher than expected.

Best regards, Mikhail


BM>     Way back on October 7 the indefatigable Paul Martsching wrote:

>>> Total meteors: one; after such an hour I wonder why I'm doing this?

BM>     ... and Mikhail Maslov replied:

>> I see, that your observation show a weak but continuous 
>> Draconid activity during 1-6 UT 7 October on the level of 
>> ~1 meteor per hour. That is very interesting and important 
>> result, which may confirm my considerations on possible 
>> weak Draconid action on 7 october, with ZHR just about 1 
>> meteor peakin at 4:40 UT (first peak). 

BM>     I guess to answer Paul's question, *that's* why. Well done.

BM>     In response to Mikhail's forecast of enhanced Draconid activity, I too was out on the evening of October 6-7, a kind of weird and broken evening of observing which involved three different
BM> observing sites! (I was doing comparable Sky Quality Meter readings for existing and candidate sites of our Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve) Unfortunately, what also got broken was my audio tape,
BM> which only now have I been able to repair and transcribe. 

BM>     As far as Giacobinids are concerned, I can only offer an anecdotal report that during 1.5 hours Teff I observed zero Draconids, however I did casually see two of them during times I was *not*
BM> counting, thus on the night saw them on the level of ~1 meteor per hour. For whatever that's worth, Mikhail. One of them was a majestic bright searing white, of mag -2 or -3 near the S.W. horizon
BM> that was my best meteor of the night, at around 0700 UT. 

BM>     The rest of my night's results are summarized below. I will send my results from October 9 (traditional Draconid peak) by separate post, as I try to catch up on a bit of a backlog of
BM> observations. 

BM>     Bruce
BM>     *****

BM> Observer: Bruce McCurdy MCCBR
BM> Date: 2007 October 7, 0437 - 0537 UT; Teff = 1.0 hours
BM> Location: Strathcona Wilderness Centre (gate), Range Road 212, Township Road 530
BM> 53.541 deg N., 113.000 deg. W.
BM> Conditions: cirrus, poor transparency, city sky glow to west
BM> Limiting magnitude: 5.6 throughout (SQM = 20.7)
BM> Direction faced: north, centred on Polaris
BM> method: Visual; microcassette recorder and talking watch

BM> Active radiants:
BM> Epsilon Ursae Minorids (EUR) 16:32 (248) +82
BM> Draconids (GIA)  17:28 (262) +54
BM> Northern Taurid (NTA)  01:52 (028) +14
BM> Southern Taurid (STA)  02:00 (030) +08
BM> Orionids (ORI)  05:44 (86) +14
BM> Delta Aurigids (DAU)  06:00 (090) +49
BM> October Camelopardalids? (OCA) 11:00, +79

BM> 0437    start
BM> 0440    DAU  +1
BM> 0442    SPO   +3
BM> 0449    NTA    +2
BM> 0458    DAU    +5
BM> 0459    SPO    +1
BM> 0513    SPO    +4
BM> 0516    DAU    +2
BM> 0537    end
BM> ***

BM> 0 EUR
BM> 0 GIA
BM> 1 NTA  +2
BM> 0 STA
BM> 0 ORI
BM> 3 DAU  +1, +2, +5
BM> o OCA
BM> 3 SPO  +1, +3, +4
BM> Total meteors: seven
BM> ***

BM> Observer: Bruce McCurdy  MCCBR
BM> Date: 2007 October 7, 0730 - 0800 UT; Teff = 0.5 hours
BM> Location: Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve (Blackfoot) IMO location code 51128
BM> 53°32'12" N, 112° 46m 48s W, elevation 711 metres
BM> Limiting magnitude: 6.1 throughout (SQM = 21.3)
BM> Direction faced: north, centred on Polaris
BM> method: Visual; microcassette recorder and talking watch

BM> Active radiants: same as above

BM> 0730    start    
BM> 0733    NTA    +2
BM> 0746    NTA     -1    fading train ~1 s
BM> 0748    NTA    +3
BM> 0751    DAU    +4
BM> 0756    DAU    +3
BM> 0756    NTA    0
BM> 0758    SPO    +4 
BM> 0800    end
BM> ***

BM> 0 EUR
BM> 0 GIA
BM> 4 (!) NTA -1, 0, +2. +3
BM> 0 STA
BM> 0 ORI
BM> 2 DAU    +3, +4
BM> 0 OCA
BM> 1 SPO    +4
BM> Total meteors: seven
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