(meteorobs) Meteor report from Strathcona Wilderness Centre, 2008-08-07/08
Bruce McCurdy
bmccurdy at telusplanet.net
Sun Aug 10 01:53:12 EDT 2008
Lost in space
A bubble drifting into a place
Where planets shift and the moon's erased
Its features lift in the glare
And I'm pretending to care
When I'm not even there
Gone, but I don't know where
-- Aimee Mann, "Lost In Space"
Had another good session on Thursday night. I started by observing
casually at one of my favourite sites, Gallagher Park, site of the Edmonton
Folk Music Festival which occurs annually around Perseid time. Aimee Mann,
author of my personal theme song cited above, performed the closing set, but
rather than watch her perform I just listened while lying back on the hill
and looking up at the sky as the second, then third, and finally
fourth-magnitude luminaries pricked through the gloaming. The Head of Draco
near the zenith provided examples of each of these, and also prompted me to
watch for Kappa Cygnids which emanate from that general area, especially in
the evening hours. I saw exactly one meteor, a second mag KCG, cruise the
zenith around 23:00, just as Aimee was singing her song "31 Today".
Coincidentally I had observed exactly 31 meteors that morning.
I was exhausted from the all-nighter at Blackfoot the previous evening
and a busy afternoon shift at the Observatory in stifling 32° C. conditions,
but an evening of live music was just what I needed to recharge my
batteries, and by the time it was over around 23:15 I was wide awake and
ready to roll. I decided to cut down my driving time and headed due east to
the Starthcona Wilderness Centre, a facility that we will be welcoming as a
new partner in the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve at month's end. The gates
were closed so I just camped out at the top of the driveway, a little closer
than I would like to the main road.
Skies weren't quite so dark as at Blackfoot (some 15 km further from
city lights) the previous night, although it wasn't entirely a fair test
under iffy conditions in which the horizons were white in all directions.
Still the Sky Quality Meter consistently scored at 20.8, and my star counts
indicated a limiting magnitude around 5.8, more than decent enough for the
planned astronomy programming that SWC will feature in 2009. Unfortunately,
there were frequent flashes of sheet lightning from a major electrical storm
passing through to the southwest which proved highly distracting to my
objective of observing flashes of light. With all these bright bursts behind
my back I felt like the unluckiest fireball observer in the history of the
world, but soon learned to resist the temptation of glancing over my right
shoulder, where a large storm cell was harshly illuminated by city glare.
The view due east was pretty reasonable by comparison, with occasional thin,
translucent clouds and not-occasional-enough headlights from passing cars
providing further distractions to the ubiquitous lightning flashes. All of
these affected what, exactly? Limiting magnitude? Effective observing time?
Obscuration of the field of view? I decided for reporting purposes to lump
it all under that last category, with a best guess of 10-20% depending on
the hour.
Since I was observing alone and fairly pulsing with music I tuned the
car radio to CKUA's "Overnight" show. Wouldn't you know but the host, Baba,
had been at the Folk Fest as well, and played Aimee Mann's "31 Today" in his
first set just as I was starting my own session shortly after midnight.
While she sang the reprise I saw two more Kappa Cygnids within seconds of
each other. In the subsequent three hours there would be an additional 31
meteors (for a total of 33 on the night, I'm stretching the connection!).
There would be just one more KCG some two hours later, but it was the meteor
of the night: a dazzling -3 pure-white fizzler that arched gracefully
through the zenith shedding sparks as it went.
The Perseids were moderately active with 22 identified, including my
first double-digit hour of the season. Another highlight was a lone, late
Capricornid which slowly cruised right into the Double Cluster like a
Perseid in reverse (a Perverseid?).
Two cars emerged from within the gate of the SWC during my time there,
one of which belonged to the facility manager, Jean Funk, who was very
pleasantly surprised to find somebody doing some sky science on site. The
second was local RASCal Patrick Earl with his son Connor, on their way home
from a weekly Thursday night astronomy session that Pat hosts in the summer
for the 40 or so kids that typically spend the night at SWC. I had forgotten
he might be there or I might have tested the gate and gone in to help out.
Still, it was great to see parks personnel and RASC volunteers staying late
to provide quality astronomy programming and responsible lighting education
at this excellent facility, which should prove to be an fine addition to our
DSP. The least I can do is observe meteors there occasionally as a show of
solidarity. :)
Bruce
*****
Observer: Bruce McCurdy, MCCBR
Date: 2008 August 08, 06:13 - 09:13; Teff = 3.0 hours
Location: Strathcona Wilderness Centre, [IMO Location Code 33620],
113.00° W, 53.54° N, elevation ~700 metres
Limiting magnitude: ~5.8 and dropping // SQM reading = 20.8 and dropping
Conditions: Hazy/cirrusy/smoggy, occasional clouds,
occasional headlights, frequent lightning flashes from SW
Direction faced: East for the most part
Method: Visual; microcassette recorder and talking watch
Comments in "quotations" are verbatim transcripts
/ = description of meteor in path length and duration
~ = description of persistent train in length and duration
Active radiants:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) 18:52 (283) +58 Velocity - 25km/sec.
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) 20:44 (311) -08 Velocity - 23km/sec.
Antihelion (ANT) - 21:32 (323) -13 Velocity - 30km/sec.
Delta Aquariids (SDA) 22:52 (343) -15 Velocity - 41km/sec.
Pisces Austrinids (PAU) 23:04 (346) -28 Velocity - 35km/sec.
Perseid (PER) 02:16 (034) +55 Velocity - 59km/sec.
06:13-07:13, LM = 5.8, obscuration 20%, facing East 50°, Teff = 1.0 hour
Time Type Mag Comment
-----------------------------------
06:13 start, LM = , SQM = 20.8
06:14 KCG +3 v. slow, / 1.5s
06:14 KCG +2
06:18 PER +4
06:28 PER +1 ~1 s
06:41 PER -2 "coppery", very near radiant, ~1 s
06:48 PER +3
06:59 PER -1 ~ 1 s
07:11 Spor 0
***
2 KCG: +2, +3
0 CAP
0 ANT
0 SDA
/ PAU
5 PER: -2, -1, +1, +3, +4
1 Spor: 0
Total meteors: eight
*****
07:13-08:13, LM = 5.8, obscuration 10%, facing East 50°, Teff = 1.0 hour
Time Type Mag Comment
-----------------------------------
07:13 PER +1
07:29 PER +2
07:29 PER +2
07:32 PER +1, / 15°
07:38 PER +3
07:41 PER +1
07:45 PER -1 ~1.5 s, broad train
07:50 PER +3
07:50 Spor 0 "saw it through a lot of crud"
08:03 PER +4 near radiant
08:03 PER +4
08:05 CAP +3 / 1.5 s, v.slow, heading directly toward PER radiant
08:07 Spor +1
08:08 --> 08-08-08, 08:08 -- no meteors to mark the moment
***
0 KCG
1 CAP: +3
0 ANT
0 SDA
/ PAU
10 PER: -1, +1(3), +2(2), +3(2), +4(2)
2 Spor: 0, +1
Total meteors: thirteen
*****
08:13-09:13, LM = 5.8, obscuration 20%, facing East 50°, Teff = 1.0 hour
Time Type Mag Comment
-----------------------------------
08:16 PER -2 / 20°, ~1.5 s
08:23 PER +2 ~ 0.5 s
08:26 PER +5 v. faint, "had duration but almost no illumination"
08:30 --> first mosquito
08:32 KCG -3 "fizzler" shedding sparks ... pure white, v. slow
08:35 Spor +1
08:36 Spor +4
08:46 PER +3
08:48 Spor +2 / 1s
08:54 PER +2 ? Seen through fairly opaque cloud
08:59 SDA +2 / 20 °, dropped from Polaris directly towards the
Pointers
09:03 PER +3
09:11 PER +4
***
1 KCG: -3
0 CAP
0 ANT
1 SDA: +2
0 PAU
7 PER: -2, +2(2), +3(2), +4, +5
3 Spor: +1, +2, +4
Total meteors: twelve
*****
Observing summary:
Teff = 3.0 hours
3 KCG: -3, +2, +3 [Mean = +0.67]
1 CAP: +3 [Mean = +3]
0 ANT
1 SDA: +2 [Mean = +2]
0 PAU
22 PER: -2(2), -1(2), +1(4), +2(4), +3(5), +4(4), +5 [Mean = +1.91]
6 Spor: 0(2), +1(2), +2, +4 [Avg. = +1.33]
Total meteors: thirty-three
*****
More information about the Meteorobs
mailing list