(meteorobs) Observation Sept 1/2 2008

[Pierre Martin]

During the final night at the airstrip, I signed-on for some meteor  
observing to cover the period between 2:45-3:55am local.  The sky  
transparency was excellent with a limiting mag of 7.15.  The Milky  
Way was so rich and detailed that it appeared to be tens of degrees  
thickness in some areas.  Once again on this morning, the Zodiacal  
Light was an impressive sight -- a huge glowing cone extending more  
than halfway up.  A very faint Zodiacal Band and Gegenshein were also  
glimpsed without much difficulty.

Meteor activity during this hour seemed ordinary with a total of 17  
recorded.  The Aurigids were weakly active with 2 members and only 1  
antihelion was seen.

The meteor highlight was a mag 0 Aurigid seen near the end of the  
session -- it had a vivid blue-green color and left a 2 sec train.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: Sept 1/2 2008
BEGIN: 06:45 UT (02:45 EDT) END: 07:55 UT (03:55 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77 15' West; Lat: 45 1' North  Elevation: 800 ft
City & Province: Irvine Lake Airstrip, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: plotting and cord alignment
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
AUR (Alpha Aurigids)______________________________05:36 (084) +42
SUM (Sept Ursid Minorids - non IMO shower)________17:24 (261) +83
AUD (August Draconids - non IMO shower)___________19:28 (292) +65
ANT (Antihelion)__________________________________23:20 (350) -03
SSL (South Sept Lyncids - non IMO shower)_________07:24 (111) +39
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_____FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO_AUR_ANT_SUM_AUD_SSL

06:45-07:55___0317+20___1.04___1.00___7.15___14___2___1___0___0___0   
= 17

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__+6______AVE

SPO___0___2___2___2___4___2___2_____+3.57
AUR___1___0___1___0___0___0___0_____+1.00
ANT___0___0___0___1___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: 7.5 min  (time taken for breaks and plotting meteors)

Breaks (UT): 7:29-35