(meteorobs) Observation July 12/13 2007 (Bootland Farm)

[Pierre Martin]

On the following evening, I returned to Bootland Farm with high  
expectations.  The CSC was forecasting a good clear sky.  Several  
members came out with their scopes.  Unfortunately, a layer of cirrus  
clouds materialized and soon thickened and overtook the entire sky.   
I decided to go to sleep in my car, so that I could wait for the  
clouds to (hopefully) move away and then do some meteor observing.   
During that time, most of the observers present packed up and went  
home.  Joe Silverman decided to go to sleep in his car.  Throughout  
the night, a few occasional sucker holes teased us but they were all  
too brief.  Mosquitoes were a bit nuisant all night.

At 2:20 EDT, my alarm clock woke me up and I couldn't believe my  
eyes!  The sky was clear as a bell and the summer Milky Way was  
shining in its full glory!  Joe had asked me to let him know if the  
skies improved, so I knocked on his car window to wake him up.  He  
then proceeded to remove the cover off his 12" dob and resume DSO  
observations.  As we both admired the very transparent skies  
overhead, a mag -6 fireball surprised me as it lit up the ground and  
left behind a train persisting for 10 long seconds!  Wow!

I quickly settled into my chair to do some meteor observing before  
the onset of dawn.  For the next several minutes, I enjoyed a rate of  
a meteor every two or three minutes... mostly sporadics... but not  
bad for a "slow" night  :0)

Unfortunately, the clouds did return and I was forced to sign-off  
just 20 minutes later.  I then went to sleep in my car so that I'd be  
awake enough to go to work in the morning.  I realize that such a  
short session has limited usefulness, but here it is for what it's  
worth...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 12/13 2007
BEGIN: 0638 UT (0238 EDT) END: 0711 UT (0311 EDT)
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
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________19:36 -14
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________20:20 -18
SDA (Delta Aquarids)______________________________21:56 -19
ACY (Alpha Cygnids)_______________________________20:04 +46
JPE (July Pegasids)_______________________________22:44 +15
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO__CAP__ANT__SDA__ACY__JPE

0638-0711___2126 
+14___0.33___1.00___6.50____7____0____1____0____0____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 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____1___1___0___1___4_____+3.86
ANT____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: 13 min (time taken for breaks)

Breaks (UT): 6:44-49, 6:57-7:05