(meteorobs) Observation July 21/22 2007 (Bootland Farm)

[Pierre Martin]

I observed at Bootland Farm on the morning of July 22 for almost two  
hours.  Skies were decent with a LM of 6.4.  Comfortable weather too,  
although quite dewy on this night.  I recorded 36 meteors.  Things  
were more active than they were just five nights ago with an average  
of a meteor every 3 minutes.  The most active shower sources were the  
Perseids, followed by the Capricornids.  Much weaker activity was  
noticed by all other active sources except for the Pisces Austrinids  
(which are seldom seen at 45 degrees latitude).

The highlight came just seven minutes after signing-on... At 12:47am  
EDT, a spectacular fireball flared to magnitude -4 below Andromeda!   
The meteor cast a faint shadow on the ground as it burst into a blue  
terminal flash before vanishing!  It left a train persisting for 2  
seconds.  It even aligned well with the antihelion radiant too!

Other noteworthy meteors...
- A mag -3 Capricornid at 12:57am EDT that ended with a blue terminal  
flash.
- A mag -2 sporadic at 1:29am EDT flared and appeared almost pure white.
- A mag +3 fragmenting Capricornid at 2:54am EDT that seemed to  
thicken and turn "nebulous" in appearance.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 21/22 2007
BEGIN: 0440 UT (0040 EDT) END: 0713 UT (0313 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

0440-0545___2019+13___1.04___1.00___6.40___10__4___3___0___1___0___5
0604-0713___2123+17___0.78___1.11___6.35___9___1___0___1___0___0___2

TOTALS:_______________1.82_________________19__5___3___1___1___0___7  
= 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
______-4__-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO____0___0___1___0___0___0___3___5___6___4_____+3.32
PER____0___0___0___0___0___0___2___1___1___3_____+3.71
CAP____0___1___0___0___0___0___0___2___1___1_____+2.40
ANT____1___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___2___0_____+1.33
SDA____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0_____+4.00
ACY____0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0_____+4.00

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): 20% clouds from 6:37-7:13

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

Dead time: 24.73 min (time taken for breaks and plotting)

Breaks (UT): 4:46 (30 sec), 5:45-6:04, 6:15-6:37, 7:03 (20 sec)