(meteorobs) Observation May 6/7 2008

[Pierre Martin]

This was a night spent at Bootland Farm.  Not only was the sky above- 
average (4/5) transparency, the seeing was also quite good.  The cool  
(down to +4C) temperature, lack of dew, lack of bugs... and lots of  
galxies overhead... reminded me of just how much I love to observe at  
this time of the year.

As I was driving on my way to Bootland Farm, I noticed a single tiny  
cloud patch to the right of the Sun, surrounded by deep blue skies  
everywhere else.  What made the scene interesting was the precise  
position of that cloud about 22 degrees from the Sun... creating a  
tiny but beautiful sundog effect!

Not too surprisingly for Spring, this night was met with all kinds of  
wildlife sounds.  There was actually quite a racket coming from the  
woods, which enhanced the experience.  The most prominent (and  
loudest) was the tiny but very vocal Spring Peepers.  There must of  
been hundreds or thousands of them peeping all at once.  Quite an  
experience!  The Great Horned Owl and especially a number of Barred  
Owls could be heard quite distinctively hooting after sunset from  
quite some distance out in the woods.  Later at night, a pack or  
packs of dozens of coyotes yapped and howled at once!  On top of  
that, there was several birds quite active after sunset, even after  
dark, that I couldn't identify.

Activity was quite low with a total of 8 meteors.  Eta Aquarids were  
unimpressive with only one seen, despite being the night after  
maximum.  Even with the very low radiant (from 45 degrees latitude) I  
would normally expect to see a few more of these meteors.  Data below...

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: May 6/7 2008
BEGIN: 0635 UT (0235 EDT) END: 0810 UT (0410 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
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________15:44 -20
ELY (Eta Lyrids)__________________________________18:48 +44
ETA (Eta Aquarids)________________________________22:24 -01
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM___SPO_ANT_ELY_ETA

0635-0810___1926+20___1.55___1.00___6.23___5___2___0___1  =  8

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______AVE

SPO____0___0___2___3_____+3.60
ANT____0___1___0___1_____+3.00
ETA____1___0___0___0_____+1.00

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: 2 min (incl breaks and plotting time)

Breaks (UT): 6:38-39