(meteorobs) Meteor obs near Viking, AB -- 2008 Aug 27-28

[Bruce McCurdy]

    Got a surprise phone call last Wednesday evening from Alister, who on 
the heels of our recent success with 111 Ate was going on a road trip to try 
and observe two possible late-night asteroid occultations. Never one to turn 
down an adventure, I agreed with alacrity to join him for the overnight 
drive, hoping maybe to bag a few Alpha Aurigids and perhaps an onscreen 
observation of an asteroid event. Leaving Edmonton about 23:30 for a 
~90-minute drive, we had by far our best observation while en route. At 
00:34 MDT (06:34 UT) a bright fireball seared the sky from the top (tinted 
portion) of the front windshield and down before suddenly exploding in a 
brilliant flash. Alister thought it was lightning but I had seen the path of 
the meteor before the explosion point, which we estimated as magnitude -8 
or -9. There was no persistent train whatsoever, it was just gone after the 
flash which gave the impression of being soaked up by light foreground 
cloud. I kept an eye on the lone star near where it exploded for a few km, 
and when we turned I asked Alister to stop so I could identify it. Given the 
larger context of the sky I was able to confirm that it was beta Ceti, and 
that there were a few clouds in the vicinity. Never did hear of any other 
fireball reports so it's irrelevant now.

    While we were stopped I kept looking of course and saw a superb Aurigid 
sear the sky overhead, a blazing beauty of magnitude -2 with a one-second 
persistent train. "I'm not counting it, but that's probably the best one 
I'll see tonight" I said to Alister, and indeed it was the best Aurigid I 
saw in TWO subsequent sessions. A couple minutes later I caught a faint 
Kappa Cygnid, while Alister spotted a couple meteors I missed. The rate 
seemed too good to be true, and it was.

    Finding a spot within the predicted limits of the occultation path just 
after 1 a.m., we set up for a couple hours of observing before the first of 
the asteroid events: Alister on his variable stars and I with my meteors. 
Skies were excellent for an hour or so before clouds began to scud in. By 
2:30 they were thick enough that I decided to take a power nap which wound 
up lasting right through both (clouded out) asteroid events. So in the end I 
only got 80 minutes Teff and just 8 official meteors. Only one is worthy of 
comment, an ivory flash of -3 which I adjudged to be a sporadic, but which 
subsequent discussion on the MeteorObs list has me suspecting to have been 
an early September Perseid.

    Despite less than full satisfaction it was nonetheless a worthwhile 
trip, with five meteors of at least the zeroeth magnitude observed if not 
formally counted, and my brightest fireball in at least two years seen 
Pierre Martin-style through the windscreen. A wide-ranging discussion with 
Alister, some excellent tunes, and the kilometres just melted away.

    Bruce
    *****

Observer: Bruce McCurdy, MCCBR
Date: 2008 August 28 , 07:13-08:34, Teff = 1.35 hours
Location: N52° 59.3236; W111° 49.6409; alt. 681.6m; ~12 km SSW of Viking, AB
Limiting magnitude: 6.5  // SQM = 21.7
Conditions: Outstanding at first, gradually clouding over
Direction faced: Straight up
Method: Visual; microcassette recorder and talking watch
   Comments in "quotations" are verbatim transcripts
   / = description of meteor in path length and duration
   ~ = description of persistent train in length and duration

Active radiants:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) 18:52 (283) +58   Velocity - 25km/sec.
September Ursid Minorids (SUM)   17:24 (261) +83   Velocity - 38km/sec.
August Draconids (AUD)   19:28 (292) +65   Velocity - 30km/sec.
Antihelion (ANT)   23:20 (350) -03   Velocity - 30km/sec.
Aurigids (AUR)   05:36 (084) +42   Velocity - 66km/sec.
Southern September Lyncid (SSL)   07:24 (111) +39   Velocity - 52km/sec.

Time    Type    Mag    Comment
-----------------------------------
07:13           start  SQM = 21.72
07:13     SPO   +5
07:28     ANT   0   ~1s
07:29     SPO   +5
07:34     SPO   -3   ~1 s, ivory; SPE?
07:56     SPO   0    ~1.5 s
08:14     SPO   +3
08:22     AUR   +2   ~0.5 s
08:34     SPO   +5
08:34           end
***
0 KCG
0 SUM
0 AUD
1 ANT:    0
1 AUR:    +2
0 SSL
6 SPO:    -3, 0, +3, +5(3)
Total meteors: eight
***