(meteorobs) Taurus chorus
Bruce McCurdy
bmccurdy at telusplanet.net
Thu Nov 22 01:29:54 EST 2007
While I had obtained what the lunar astronauts might call a "contingency
sample" of Taurids from my back yard Saturday Nov. 11, I was nonetheless
determined to head for darker skies as close to the NTA peak as possible. It
clouded up early on Sunday evening; my observing buddy, Alister Ling, and I
came within an eyelash of heading out towards Red Deer after the RASC
meeting Monday, but ultimately backed out due to high winds and an weather
models that were deteriorating by the hour. (And a good decision it was,
too, I thought as the wind howled through my chimney all that night.)
By Tuesday we were chomping at the bit, and by 21:30 were headed
westward toward the back edge of the system. After a two-hour drive we
emerged into clearing skies just east of Whitecourt, AB. We found a very
dark spot away from yard lights but very near a railway crossing.
The bucolic night air was filled with the sounds and smells of a nearby
herd of cattle. The bleating bovines maintained a running commentary all
night (presumably about the weather), and were quickly dubbed the Taurus
Chorus. We turned our eyes to the skies in hopes of spotting their visual
counterparts.
In three hours Teff under excellent skies I counted 13 Taurids in total,
including 6 from the northern radiant, 4 from the southern, and 3
indeterminate. None of them were brighter than mag +2, unlike my limited
sample of a few nights earlier, where the faintest of three observed Taurids
was +1. On this night my favourite was a +4 dart fired right into the dim
head of Taurus' arch-enemy, Orion; revenge perhaps for an arrow launched in
the other direction during my Hunter's Moon Orionids experience a couple
weeks before.
The Leonids were also decently active, with 8 identified. The best, a
spectacular -5 fireball, ripped the fabric of the sky, which needed a good
25-30 seconds to complete its usual seamless repair job. A persistent train
about 6° long fairly near the radiant twisted in the upper atmospheric
winds as it faded. But the longest train of the night was associated with a
rare sighting of an Andromedid, an ultra-slow, deeply orange -1 sparkler
that sputtered and went out near Rigel. As I began to record my comments, a
locomotive honked its warning blasts, then erupted into my line of sight to
temporarily rob me of my night vision. 100+ cars must have crashed by as I
yelled my description of this beauty. Trains are supposed to be long and
bright, but this one was loud!
With the prospect of a long drive home, we stopped about 3 a.m. for a
long binocular view of the comet and packed up a little earlier than I
would've liked. By then Taurus had transited the meridian and I felt we had
experienced a decent sample, albeit without any of the famous Taurid
fireballs. Granted it was a few days past both maxima, but it was a lot
closer to ZHR = 5 than 15 for each shower. But I guess I'll have to come
back again next year to test this conclusion. :)
Bruce
*****
Observer: Bruce McCurdy, MCCBR
Location: Range Rd 93 N. of Township Road 584 near Whitecourt, AB: 54°, 2',
34" N; 115° 15' 57" W
Time: 2007 Nov 14, 06:40-10:00 UT ; Teff = 3.0 hours
Method: visual, microcassette recorder and talking watch
Limiting magnitude = 6.3 to 6.5 (SQM = 21.4 to 21.6)
Active radiants:
November Piscid / Triangulid / Andromedids (AND !) 01:40 (025) +27
Northern Taurids (NTA) 03:44 (056) +22
Southern Taurids (STA) 03:44 (056) +15
Taurids (TAU): Unable to determine which Taurid radiant
Leonids (LEO) 09:48 (147) +24
***
06:40-07:40; clear; limiting magnitude 6.5; E 60°; Teff 1.0 hour
Time type mag. comment
-----------------------------
06:40 start
06:44 AND +3 v. slow, wake, 0.5 s persistent train
06:55 LEO +3 Earthgrazer, rising from horizon to 10° alt., brief
train
07:04 SPO 0 Red, 1 s per.tr.
07:09 LEO +1 Earthgrazer rising into feet of Orion, 0.5 s per. tr.,
greenish
07:11 NTA +4
07:16 TAU +3
07:20 NTA +3
07:21 AND -1 v. slow, "sparkler", variable brightness, 2.5 s
duration, "more orange than Mars"
07:26 STA +4
07:30 TAU +3
07:30 TAU +2 0.3 s per.tr.
07:33 SPO +3 "skipper" ~ 20° long, white
07:33 LEO -5 30 s per tr., 6° long
07:39 NTA +4 slow, near radiant
***
2 AND: -1, +3
3 NTA: +3, +4(2)
1 STA +4
3 TAU: +2, +3(2)
3 LEO: -5, +1, +3
2 SPO: 0, +3
Total meteors: fourteen
*****
07:40-08:40; clear; limiting magnitude 6.4; E 60°; Teff 1.0 hour
Time type mag. comment
-----------------------------
07:40 continue
07:59 NTA +3
08:01 STA +4 into head of Orion
08:03 SPO +4 swift
08:05 SPO +1 brief wake
08:19 SPO +4 > two sporadics of very similar path ~1 s apart,
08:19 SPO +2 > same radiant?
08:22 SPO +1 brief train
08:23 LEO +5 short, near radiant, brief train
08:25 SPO +2
08:28 LEO +4 15° trail
08:39 SPO +1 "skipper", slow, 2 s duration
08:40-09:00 break
***
0 AND
1 NTA +3
1 STA +4
2 LEO +4, +5
7 SPO +1(3), +2(2), +4(2)
Total meteors: eleven
*****
09:00-10:00; clear; limiting magnitude 6.3; ESE 60°; Teff 1.0 hour
Time type mag. comment
-----------------------------
09:00 restart
09:00 SPO 0 ~0.5 s per. tr.
09:01 STA +2 "skipper", ~1 s duration
09:02 SPO +1 10° trail, ~0.5 s per. tr., "Mars-y colour"
09:11 LEO +2 20° trail
09:12 SPO +3
09:12 ??? !! "double flash" we both observed on SE horizon; no
meteor resolved
09:25 SPO +4
09:27 NTA +4
09:29 LEO +4
09:35 LEO +4
09:46 SPO +3
09:52 NTA +3
09:53 SPO -1 slow, ~ 0.5 s per. tr.
09:57 STA +2 brief wake
10:00 end
***
0 AND
2 NTA +3, +4
2 STA +2(2)
3 LEO +2, +4(2)
6 SPO -1, 0, +1, +3(2), +4
Total meteors: thirteen
*****
Observing summary
Teff = 3.0 hours
2 AND -1, +3
6 NTA +3(3), +4(3)
4 STA +2(2), +4(2)
3 TAU +2, +3(2)
8 LEO -5, +1, +2, +3, +4(3), +5
15 SPO -1, 0(2), +1(4), +2(2), +3(3), +4(3)
Total meteors: thirty-eight
*****
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