(meteorobs) Observation July 9/10 2008

[Pierre Martin]

I joined Donny to observe meteors at the Moose Creek site on the  
morning of July 10.  Transparency was very good (4/5) and it was a  
nice, comfortable, dry night.

In a little over 2 hours, I got in 39 meteors.  Compared to just a  
few nights ago, there was a marked increase in meteor rates.  This  
made the night go by quickly :)  Saw my first Perseids for 2008.   
Sirko Molau's video radiant (BAQ) appeared to be mildly active - my  
plots indicate 3 meteors intersecting with this radiant.  All three  
of these meteors were very faint.  July Pegasids appeared to be  
active, even though they've recently been removed from IMO's working  
list.  The most impressive meteor was a mag -2 July Pegasid that shot  
over 30 degrees and left a 1 sec train.

Lots of satellites going by too... a mag -5 iridium flare at 2:11am  
EDT, the ISS appearing out of Earth's shadow low in the east at  
2:15am EDT, and at 3:02am EDT there was a rapidly flashing satellite  
across the zenith.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 9/10 2008
BEGIN: 0450 UT (0050 EDT) END: 0730 UT (0330 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North  Elevation: 400 ft
City & Province: Moose Creek, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________19:28 -14
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________20:12 -18
JPE (July Pegasids - non IMO shower)______________22:40 +15
BAQ (Beta Aquarids - non IMO shower)______________21:00 -04
SDA (Delta Aquarids)______________________________21:48 -19
PER (Perseids)____________________________________00:25 +50
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO_JPE_CAP_ANT_SDA_BAQ_PER

0450-0601___2058+10___1.00___1.00___6.45___12___1___1___0___0___2___0
0601-0730___2216+08___1.19___1.00___6.45___13___3___1___3___0___1___2

TOTALS:_______________2.19_________________25___4___2___3___0___3___2  = 
  39

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

SPO___0___0___0___1___5___6___9___4_____+3.40
JPE___1___0___0___0___1___1___1___0_____+1.75
ANT___0___0___0___0___1___0___2___0_____+3.33
BAQ___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___2_____+4.66
CAP___0___0___0___1___1___0___0___0_____+1.50
PER___0___0___0___0___1___1___0___0_____+2.50

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: 28.91 min (incl breaks and plotting time)

Breaks (UT): 5:19-23, 6:15-24