(meteorobs) Observation July 16/17 2007 (Bootland Farm)

[Pierre Martin]

Following an evening nap, I went to Bootland Farm to cover a couple  
of hours on the morning of July 17.  I observed from 12:30 to 3:20am  
EDT.

The sky conditions were quite decent, with the transparency improving  
from average (3/5) to above-average (4/5) quality.  Limit mag 6.5  
late in the session.  The Milky Way was again showing a wealth of  
details all the way to the southern horizon.  It was a sight to  
behold.  It was another comfortable coolish night.  Had the company  
of four other observers who were busy doing DSO's.

In two and a half hours, activity was fair with 36 meteors.   
Sporadics made up the majority of the activity of course, but the  
antihelions were well represented.  The Delta Aquarids were still  
very weak this early in the month, but were noticeable.  One definite  
Perseid was plotted.

What made this session interesting were the two instances of a pair  
of meteors occurring within just a second of each other.  I also had  
one instance of two *exactly* simultaneous meteors that seemed to  
almost cross paths!  I attribute this to pure luck, since all were  
unrelated (travelled in different directions).

At the end, I wrapped myself into the sleeping bag and promptly fell  
asleep.  Woke up in the morning for some breakfast, and then drove in  
to work.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: July 16/17 2007
BEGIN: 0430 UT (0030 EDT) END: 0720 UT (0320 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, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________19:56 -12
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________20:48 -17
SDA (Delta Aquarids)______________________________22:12 -18
ACY (Alpha Cygnids)_______________________________20:16 +47
PER (Perseids)____________________________________01:12 +52
PAU (Pisces Austrinids)___________________________22:16 -33
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM___SPO_CAP_ANT_SDA_ACY_PAU_PER

0430-0535___1932+11___1.05___1.00___6.40___9___1___2___1___0___0___0
0547-0655___2040+11___0.99___1.00___6.45___7___0___2___1___0___0___0
0655-0720___2142+10___0.41___1.00___6.50___9___0___2___1___0___0___1

TOTALS:_______________2.45_________________25__1___6___3___0___0___1  
= 36

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___4___7___8___4_____+3.32
ANT____1___0___4___1___0_____+2.83
SDA____1___1___0___0___1_____+2.66
CAP____0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00
PER____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: 10.66 min (time taken for breaks and plotting)

Breaks (UT): 4:48-49, 5:35-47, 6:00-02, 6:29-33, 6:36-38