[Meteorobs] Observation August 13/14 2009

[Pierre Martin]

The weather continued to play nice, so I was out for a third night,  
this time on my own at Bootland Farm, to cover the last two hours  
before dawn.  The crescent Moon was up and bright, but the  
transparency was excellent - allowing 6th mag stars to be visible near  
the zenith.  There was a bit of ground fog, but nothing too serious.   
For several minutes, I had the company of a bat that flew circles  
around me, and it would sometimes silently skim just inches over my  
head (in search of mosquitoes?)

I recorded a total of 37 meteors (30 of which were Perseids).  This  
breaks down with 11 Perseids in the first hour and 19 in the second  
one.  I did not watch for other showers, since my field of view to the  
north kept my field of view too far away from those radiants.

The highlight was a mag -2 blue-green Perseid that ended with a  
terminal flash and a 5 seconds persistent train.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: August 13/14 2009
BEGIN: 06:25 UT (02:25 EDT) END: 08:40 UT (04:40 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, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
KCG (Kappa Cygnids)______________________________18:56 +58
PER (Perseids)___________________________________02:56 +57
SPO (sporadics)
(other showers not watched)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___F_______LM_____SPO__PER__KCG

06:25-07:30___19:18 +73___1.08___1.00____6.18____2___11___0
07:34-08:40___20:31 +74___1.05___1.00____6.08____4___19___1

TOTALS:___________________2.13___________________6___30___1  =  37


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), where 1.00 is exactly one hour. 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

SPO___0___0___0___2___1___1___2___0_____+2.50
PER___1___2___0___6___5___7___7___2_____+2.37
KCG___0___0___0___0___0___0___1___0_____+4.00

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  
(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: 3 min (break)

Breaks (UT): 7:30-34, 8:03-06

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