(meteorobs) Observation May 20/21 2009

[Pierre Martin]

I went out to Bootland Farm for a short evening meteor session on  
Wednesday May 20.  I got there quite early, so I decided to go for a  
nap in the car as I was a bit tired.  Mosquitoes were quite a pain,  
and a few had managed to sneak inside.  Just as I would get  
comfortable and about to doze off, a little bugger would start to buzz  
slowly in my direction, until it landed in my ear.  It drove me nuts,  
and I didn't get much sleep at all.

When I got out of my car to start meteor observing, I was pleasantly  
surprised that the mosquitoes were all gone.  Yet, the night was quite  
warm (about +14C) with a light breeze from the south-west.  It was  
comfortable to observe without a sleeping bag... really nice!

Observing from 10:40pm to 12:20am on and off (for a little over an  
hour's teff), meteor activity was quite slow with only 5 sporadics.   
All of which were faint.  However, I did not mind the long lulls  
without meteors; the sky overhead was spectacular with stars as faint  
as mag +6.6 visible around the zenith, and summer Milky Way rising in  
the east.  It was a pleasure just to look up!  At 11:10pm, saw a nice  
ISS pass (mag -1) until it faded into the Earth's shadow, turning into  
a deep orange color.  It was difficult to pull my eyes away from the  
sky, but with work the next day, it was time to go.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: May 20/21 2009
BEGIN: 02:40 UT (22:40 EDT) END: 04:20 UT (00:20 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North Elevation: 400 ft
Observing site: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
ANT (Antihelion)_________________________________17:00 -23
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)_____FIELD_______Teff____F______LM____SPO_ANT

02:40-04:20____15:57 +14___1.26___1.00___6.63____5___0

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
_____+4__+5______AVE

SPO___3___2_____+4.40

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  
(IMO definition). The above table contains the magnitudes from all  
observed meteors, and the average (last column) for showers.
------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV) (UT): None

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

Dead time: 24.58 min (21 min for breaks and 3.58 min for plotting)

Breaks (UT): 2:56-57, 3:05-10, 3:59-4:14