(meteorobs) Observation October 4/5 2007 (Bootland Farm)

[Pierre Martin]

On Thursday evening October 4, I had a very enjoyable observing  
session at Bootland Farm.  The skies were clear and beautiful, with a  
typical LM=6.4.  This was also a very comfortable night, with an  
unseasonably mild (almost warm) light breeze coming from the south- 
west.  This was also one of the infrequent nights that was almost  
completely dry, with little to no dew (at least during the time I was  
there).

During these two hours before local midnight, I was pleased to record  
and plot a total of 16 meteors (11 sporadics, 4 North Taurids and 1  
South Taurid).

The session was marked by two very swift earthgrazers, seeming to  
radiate from a point low in the north-east.  The first one at 10:38pm  
EDT reached mag +1 and flared to a bright blue color as shot 50  
degrees across the zenith, followed by a one sec train.  The second  
earthegrazer appeared 8 minutes later, also mag +1, blue-green with a  
30 degrees path.

Had it not been for work early the next morning, I would have stayed  
later!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: October 4/5 2007
BEGIN: 0215 UT (2215 EDT) END: 0320 UT (2320 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
NTA (Antihelions - North Taurids)_________________01:52 +14
STA (Antihelions - South Taurids)_________________02:00 +08
ORI (Orionids)____________________________________05:44 +14
DAU (Delta Aurigids)______________________________06:00 +49
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM___SPO_NTA_STA_ORI_DAU

0215-0320___2329+12___1.03___1.00___6.48___11___4___1___/___0  =  16

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
_______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO____1___2___0___2___4___2_____+3.09
NTA____1___0___1___1___1___0_____+2.25
STA____0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00

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: 3.49 min (plots)

Breaks (UT): none