(meteorobs) Observation July 11/12 2008

[Pierre Martin]

I went back to the Moose Creek site on the morning of July 12 for  
meteor observing.  I arrived a little after 1am EDT, and several  
other observers were there.  The sky was average transparency (3/5).

In two hours of observing until morning twilight, I recorded 22  
meteors.  The rates were not quite as good as the previous session.   
Other than the sporadics, shower activity was either low or non- 
existent.

The meteor highlight was by far an impressive blue-white mag -3  
Perseid that flew 40 degrees from Lyra to Ophiuchus, ending with a  
sharp terminal flash.  The train that it left behind persisted for 12  
seconds.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 11/12 2008
BEGIN: 0525 UT (0125 EDT) END: 0735 UT (0335 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

0525-0628___2026+10___1.00___1.00___6.25____9___1___0___0___0___0___1
0628-0735___2128+08___1.05___1.00___6.25____8___0___0___3___0___0___0

TOTALS:_______________2.05_________________17___1___0___3___0___0___1  = 
  22

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

SPO___0___0___0___1___2___4___5___3___2_____+2.76
ANT___0___0___0___0___0___1___1___0___1_____+3.33
JPE___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00
PER___1___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0_____-3.00

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: 7.16 min (incl breaks and plotting time)

Breaks (UT): 6:27 (20sec), 6:40 (30sec), 7:24-27