(meteorobs) Observation May 24/25 2009

[Pierre Martin]

On the Sunday May 24, I returned to Bootland Farm to observe meteors  
for two hours, centered on midnight.  Sky transparency was very good,  
with a limiting mag of 6.6 at the zenith.  No mosquitoes, and  
comfortably cool temperature.

Meteor rates were a bit better than I expected... In 2.13 hours teff,  
I recorded 11 sporadics (six on the first hour, and five in the second).

The highlight came at the very beginning, only seconds into my  
watch... a very slow moving yellow sporadic was spotted descending in  
the north-east, swelling up to a bright mag 0 with a deep orange  
color.  Then it dramatically fragmented into two distinct pieces  
travelling side-by-side until they both slowly faded away.  Wow!

Another memorable meteor came just 9 minutes later, which looked  
completely different than the first one.  This time it was a very  
swift-moving mag 0 streak shot a good 30 degrees across southern  
Hercules, leaving behind a 2 seconds train.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: May 24/25 2009
BEGIN: 02:50 UT (22:50 EDT) END: 05:00 UT (01:00 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

02:50-03:51___15:42 +12___1.00___1.00___6.55____6___0
03:51-05:00___16:41 +12___1.13___1.00___6.55____5___0

TOTALS:___________________2.13_________________11___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
_____0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO__2___0___1___1___5___2_____+3.18

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: 2.5 min (for plotting)

Breaks (UT): none