(meteorobs) Observation November 2/3 2007 (Bootland Farm)

[Pierre Martin]

Hello,

Here's my report for the Friday night Nov 2/3.  I drove to Bootland  
Farm for some meteor observing (I had initially planned to setup for  
some Comet Holmes astrophotography for earlier on but my schedule  
didn't permit that to happen).  When I arrived, I was greeted by Ken  
Whitnall (with 6" refractor), Joe Silverman (with 8" dob) and Sanjeev  
Sivarulrasa (with 14.5" dob) who were all busy enjoying the comet and  
other fine DSOs.  Overhead, the skies were dark and beautiful!  The  
temperature reached the freezing mark and there was significant  
dewing/frosting.

I spent some time taking on the views in each scope.  The views in  
each instrument was beautiful!  The comet sure had changed its  
appearance compared to the last time I had seen it (in late October  
while observing with the company of Shane east of Ottawa).  The comet  
had now grown dramatically in size!  To the eye, the comet's fuzzball  
appearance was unmistakable.  The view in Sanjeev's 14.5" was  
spectacular!  The yellowish color within the inner coma was evident,  
as was the shockwave on one side of the coma.  The tail of the comet  
was visible very faintly as an ever-so-slight brightening of the sky  
on one side of the comet (panning the scope slightly back and forth  
helped).  Ken's refractor with binoviewers offered a dramatic, 3D- 
like view of the comet (it seemed to just sit there, as if suspended  
against the stars!).

At midnight, I settled into my lawn chair for a little over an hour  
of meteor observing.  Activity seemed rather normal with 13 meteors  
recorded.  Of these, four were Taurids and one was a late Orionid.   
The brightest meteors reached mag +1.  Details below...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: November 2/3 2007
BEGIN: 0405 UT (2305 EST) END: 0535 UT (0035 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North Elevation: 400 ft
City & Province: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
NTA (North Taurids)_______________________________03:28 +21
STA (South Taurids)_______________________________03:28 +15
ORI (Orionids)____________________________________07:00 +17
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM___SPO__NTA__STA__ORI

0405-0535___0338+15___1.29___1.00___6.48___8____1____3____1  =  13

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 not spent  
looking at the sky). The 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____2___2___2___0___2_____+2.75
STA____1___1___0___0___1_____+2.66
NTA____0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00
ORI____0___1___0___0___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) (UT):  none

------------------------

Dead time: 12.5 min (breaks and time spent plotting)

Breaks (UT): 4:17-19, 4:32-33, 4:39-42, 4:56-5:00