(meteorobs) Observation August 8/9 2008

[Pierre Martin]

I nearly wrote off the night as the forecasts were calling for  
clouds.  However, the forecasters were wrong since the sky quickly  
cleared late in the evening.  I rushed to pack my equipment and went  
to Bootland Farm for a few hours of meteor observing into the pre- 
dawn hours.  It was a cool night (down to 12C) with a nice breeze.   
There was still a few mosquitoes but nothing serious.  The  
transparency was average quality for the rest of the night.  Late  
into the session, I noticed the zodiacal band was faintly visible  
along the ecliptic.  For this session, I faced the north-east sky,  
keeping the Perseid radiant in my field of view.

In 3 hours time, I recorded 92 meteors.  The Perseids were the  
dominating shower activity, with 53 members, which is what I'd expect  
3 nights prior to the peak.  Many of these were in the +2 to +3 mag  
range, but a few bright meteors showed up.  The most impressive was a  
20 degree long mag -3 Perseid with a terminal flash, that left a 12  
sec persistent train.  I also saw a few very short, high  
foreshortened Perseids near the radiant.

Kappa Cygnids were active in low numbers.  The most impressive was a  
mag -2 yellow-orange KCG that travelled a long 20 degree path.  It  
moved slowly and had a very gradual brightness increase and decrease.

Tonight is a wash-out, but I'm hopeful for some clear skies tomorrow  
night!  (Might have to travel a bit further west to get it though).   
Good look to all who'll be heading out for the Perseid peak!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: August 8/9 2008
BEGIN: 0510 UT (0110 EDT) END: 0825 UT (0425 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
KCG (Kappa Cygnids)_______________________________18:56 (284) +58
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________21:12 (318) -06
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________22:00 (330) -10
SDA (Delta Aquarids)______________________________23:16 (349) -13
PER (Perseids)____________________________________03:00 (045) +57
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO_PER_KCG_CAP_ANT_SDA

0510-0610___0057+60___1.00___1.00___6.52____9___19___1___0___1___0
0610-0718___0230+60___1.00___1.00___6.53___13___21___1___1___0___1
0718-0825___0357+61___1.07___1.00___6.52___10___13___2___0___0___0

TOTALS:_______________3.07_________________32___53___4___1___1___1  = 92

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___0___1___4___7__15___5_____+3.59
PER___1___0___1___3___7__14__13___7___7_____+2.51
KCG___0___1___0___0___1___1___0___1___0_____+1.25
CAP___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00
ANT___0___0___0___0___0___1___0___0___0_____+2.00
SDA___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0_____+4.00

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: 11 min (incl breaks time)

Breaks (UT): 6:20-28, 7:50-52, 8:11-12