(meteorobs) Observation January 2/3 2009

Sun Jan 4 17:22:51 EST 2009

Hello all,

Here's my results of this year's unexpectedly impressive Quadrantids...

Friday night's weather forecast was questionable, and not too  
promising - with only a possibility of clearing skies and some small  
holes developping late at night.  I contemplated traveling a few  
hours out of town, but a fresh snowfall would have made driving  
conditions difficult.  I decided to wait as late as I could on Friday  
evening.  By midnight, the satellite image showed what seemed to be  
thinning clouds and holes approaching from the west.  A little more  
hopeful, I packed the car and drove about an hour east of the city to  
Johnston road (a nice quiet site that Todd Weeks introduced me to  
watch the 2007 Geminids).  Not too surprisingly, the road was  
completely snow covered, but easily accessible.  I arrived at 2:30am,  
and overhead the skies were nearly completely clear! :)  I looked up  
casually for a few minutes as I waited for my eyes to adapt to the  
dark.  The night was cold and crisp (-16C, 3F), but it wasn't long  
before I would spot 3 Quads, a pair of sporadics and one Coma  
Berenicid.  Skies reached mag 6.2.  Although it was clear,  
significant amounts of humidity/low clouds was visible over the  
horizons.

I took my time setting up everything in the cold.  I was dressed in  
thick layers, including my heavy duty parka and sleeping bag.  I  
would occasionally fumble, lose something in my sleeping bag, or drop  
it into the snow.  But the Quads were cooking as I'd often see them  
scooting by from just casual glimpses up at the sky.  At one point,  
there was a burst of 3 meteors in just five seconds.  This included a  
mag -3 Quad in Ursa Major, followed almost immediately with a mag 0  
Quad in Ursa Minor.  I could feel my heartbeat and adrenaline rising :)

I signed on at 3:30am EST to enjoy over two hours TEFF.  I recorded a  
total of 213 meteors (of which 197 were Quads).  I only watched for  
Quads and Coma Berenicids, since the other minor shower radiants were  
too low behind me.  The first hour was impressive with 79 meteors (of  
which 70 were Quads) considering the radiant was still just halfway  
up.  Then things got really busy!  In the second hour, I logged 114  
meteors (of which 107 were Quads!).  This makes it easily the best  
Quadrantid shower I've ever seen, and on par with the excellent 2006  
Geminids and 2004 Perseids.  As usual near a shower maxima, there  
were several bursts of meteors in very short spans of times.  For  
example, I had 13 instances of two Quads coming a second or two  
apart, and even 2 instances of a pair of Quads appearing  
simultaneously.  One of the most intense moments was a burst of 16  
quadrantids between 5:10-15am !!

What seemed odd was the appearance of so many Quadrantids near the  
zenith (especially in Ursa Major) and fewer near the horizons.  A few  
were even very near the radiant, appearing as tiny and slow moving  
streaks.  Only about 19% of quadrantids left trains (none of which  
lasted more than 1 sec).  Quadrantid brightness seemed typical with  
an average mag of +2.74.  The brighter meteors were typically colored  
blue or yellow, and didn't show any noticeable flaring or  
fragmentation.  After the second hour, a sheet of low clouds moved in  
without warning, and forced me to take a half-hour break.  Even  
without any stars visible, I could still see an occasional meteor  
through the clouds!  It wasn't until the sky cleared again that I  
realized my mistake -- I had left my tape recorder out in the cold  
while I was walking around to stretch my legs and attend my cameras.   
The batteries were frozen, and it wouldn't work.  My backup tape  
recorder was frozen as well.  Fortunately, I had my small propane  
heater next to my chair, so I held the recorder next to it for a few  
minutes until it was warm enough to start working again.  I resumed  
counts for an additional 15 minutes until 6:30am EST.  Even in bright  
morning twilight, I caught another 20 quadrantids!  The ISS came by  
and was an impressive mag -3.5 pass.

I had my two DSLR cameras running during the watch, and both captured  
several meteors (composites created from all images containing  
meteors)...

Canon 30D, ISO1250, 20mm lens at f/2.8 (centered near Leo in the  
west)...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/3167303645/sizes/m/
Canon 300D, ISO800, 35mm lens at f/2 (centered near Ursa Minor in the  
north)...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/3167303665/sizes/m/

When packing up at the end, the Quads showed no signs of slowing  
down.  Only a handful of bright stars were visible, yet meteors kept  
coming!  A few minutes before sunrise, I saw a mag -3 Quad leaving a  
5 sec train, followed moments later by a mag -2.  And with pure luck,  
I took one last glance at the blue sky before heading home, and saw  
an iridium flare brighten to about mag -5.  On my way out, I  
discovered a Barred Owl sitting in a tree next to the road.  I  
observed the owl for a few minutes with my fogged-up binoculars  
before it flew deep into the woods.

Summary of my data is copied below.  I also have the IMO electronic  
form with 5 and 10 min intervals available at:
http://umdb.urania.be/v2/obsview/view.php?id=4444

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario

DATE: January 2/3 2009
BEGIN: 0830 UT (0330 EST) END: 1130 UT (0630 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.104 West; Lat: 45.434 North Elevation: 100 ft
City & Province: Bourget, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
QUA (Quadrantids)_________________________________15:20 +49
COM (Coma Berenicids)_____________________________11:40 +25
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_____FIELD______Teff____F______LM____QUA__COM_SPO

08:30-09:37___15:20 +51___1.00___1.00___6.13___70____2___7
09:37-10:37___16:38 +53___1.00___1.00___6.20___107___2___5
11:15-11:30___13:40 +55___0.25___1.00___5.70___20____0___0

TOTALS:___________________2.25_________________197___4___12  = 213

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

QUA___2___2__16__21__36__48__51__21_____+2.74
COM___0___0___0___0___1___0___3___0_____+3.50
SPO___0___0___0___1___0___4___5___2_____+3.58

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 during observing periods

------------------------

Dead time: 7 min (break)

Breaks (UT): 9:15-22, 10:37-11:15 (break due to sudden cloud cover  
and tape recorder problems)