(meteorobs) Observation July 26/27 2008

[Pierre Martin]

I took advantage of the clear weather on Sunday morning July 27 to  
get in a few hours of meteor observing.  The late-July period is  
among my favorite time of the year, due to the numerous minor showers  
that are active all at once.  The waning crescent Moon would be a  
slight nuisance by 1am EDT, but I planned to keep my field of view  
centered to the south-west which would stay relatively dark all night.

On my way there, it became apparent that the night was VERY humid.   
My windshield kept fogging up even with the air vents running at  
high.  Just as I was passing the Madawaska River bridge, I seemed to  
startle a Great Horned Owl.  The impressive bird took off and flew  
away in the woods.  At the observing field, I was greeted by a few  
people setup with scopes.  The night was humid and there was some  
mosquitoes, but the Thermacell took care of that :0)  Overhead, the  
sky occasionally flashed from a distant t-storm.  A breeze increased  
later on, which made the night more comfortable.  As I setup my  
camera equipment for wide-field photos, I was startled to see a mag  
-2 Alpha Capricornid in the east, leaving fragments!

In 3 hours, I recorded 68 meteors.  Activity was quite well spaced,  
with only one instance of 2 meteors within one second of each other.   
Sporadic and Delta Aquarids rates increased each hour.  The  
antihelion, Alpha Capricornids and Perseids were mildly active.  I  
even got in two Pisces Austrinids (PAU)!  I rarely see these meteors  
since the radiant for this one is so low (14 degrees above horizon at  
best).  Using a long string, these two meteors clearly lined up with  
PAU, and had acceptable path length and velocity.

After reviewing the photos from my two DSLRs, I found that I caught  
one Alpha Capricornid in Aquila.  I happened to see this meteor  
visually as well, and called it a mag 0...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/2748872968/sizes/o/in/ 
set-72157606642429825/
Close-up view of the same meteor...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/2748038941/sizes/o/

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 26/27 2008
BEGIN: 0500 UT (0100 EDT) END: 0821 UT (0421 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, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
SDA (Delta Aquarids)______________________________22:36 -16
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________20:20 -11
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________21:08 -15
PAU (Pisces Austrinids)___________________________22:44 -30
PER (Perseids)____________________________________01:40 +53
ACY (Alpha Cygnids - non IMO shower))_____________20:40 +50
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO_SDA_CAP_ANT_PAU_PER_ACY

0500-0610___1909+22___1.01___1.00___6.18____7___3___1___3___1___2___0
0610-0718___2042+17___1.00___1.00___6.15____5___7___3___2___1___5___0
0718-0821___2144+17___0.98___1.00___6.06___12__12___0___2___0___2___0

TOTALS:_______________2.99_________________24__22___4___7___2___9___0  = 
  68

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
______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___2___1___4___6___9___2_____+3.04
SDA___0___1___6___5___8___2_____+3.18
PER___0___1___1___1___4___2_____+3.55
ANT___0___1___2___2___2___0_____+2.71
CAP___1___1___0___2___0___0_____+1.75
PAU___0___0___0___1___1___0_____+3.50

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: 22 min (incl breaks time)

Breaks (UT): 5:30-37, 5:54 (30sec), 5:57-59, 6:21-22, 6:45-52, 7:44  
(30sec), 8:09-13