(meteorobs) Observation January 3/4 2008

[Pierre Martin]

Hello all,

I don't think I've ever been so far behind with my observing reports,  
but better late than never!  ;0)  Going back to January's Quadrantid  
shower, I realized that I sent the data to the IMO, but not on  
meteorobs.  For what it's worth, here it is...

For this shower, the weather did not cooperate - yet I was eager to  
try and catch the Quads, which were predicted to be ideally  
positioned for a peak above the east coast of NA!  I decided to  
travel several hours south to join Wayne Hally who was setup for the  
night at the NJAA Observatory (in High Bridge, New Jersey).  Skies  
there were forecasted to be at least semi-clear... but that was a lot  
better than the solid cloudiness above Ottawa.  A friend from Ottawa,  
Todd Weeks, joined me for the trip.  We shared the driving.

We had cloudy periods for most of the night, but the final hour was  
completely clear!  This timing was ideal thanks to the well- 
positioned radiant high up in the sky.  With a sky limit mag 5.7, it  
was obvious that the Quads were somewhere near full tilt, with 53  
seen in just 1 hour!  The most impressive event was a long mag 0  
sporadic earthgrazer at 5:20am EST, in Leo, followed just a few  
seconds later by a bright mag -1 Quad, also in Leo.  Both of these  
meteors were caught by my DSRL, as well as two other fainter Quads...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/2742298295/sizes/o/in/ 
set-72157606599759816/

After all these years, it was a treat to not only catch the Quads  
near maximum, but also to share this night with Wayne and Todd.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: January 3/4 2008
BEGIN: 0645 UT (0145 EST) END: 1113 UT (0613 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -74 53' 54" West; Lat: 40 40' 52" North
City & Province: High Bridge, New Jersey, USA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock, tape recorder, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:______________________________radiant position
ANT (antihelions)______________________________07:52 (118) +20
AHY (Alpha Hydrids - non-IMO shower)___________08:32 (128) -13
ELE (Epsilon Leonids - non-IMO shower)_________09:44 (146) +25
COM (Coma Berenicids)__________________________12:40 (190) +18
QUA (Quadrantids)______________________________15:20 (230) +49
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____QUA__SPO__ANT__COM__AHY__ELE

0645-0720___0944+10___0.58___1.18___5.85____7____2____0____0____0____0
1006-1113___1259+14___1.05___1.00___5.72___53____7____0____0____0____0

TOTALS:_______________1.63_________________60____9____0____0____0____0   
= 69

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
______-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

QUA____1___2___4__12__10__15__10___6_____+2.40
SPO____1___0___2___2___0___2___2___0_____+1.55

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: 4 min (breaks)

Breaks (UT): 7:20-10:06, 10:18-20, 11:02-04