[Meteorobs] Observation August 16/17 2009

[Pierre Martin]

I went back to the Moosecreek site to observe a couple of hours, after  
midnight.  Quite unlike the previous nights, a smog warning was  
issued, and it was very humid.  As a result, the sky was very poor -  
and pollution was apparent all over the horizons, stretching more than  
halfway up.  Many of the familiar constellations near the horizons  
were difficult to see.  Overhead, the Milky Way was faint and quickly  
faded about half way down.  This forced me to keep my field of view  
centered higher than usual, in an area of the sky that remained  
acceptable for observing.

In those two hours, I recorded 14 meteors (5 Perseids, 7 sporadics and  
even a late Delta Aquarid and Alpha Capricornid).

The best meteor was a mag -1 Perseid that shot 30 degrees into the  
southern sky.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: August 16/17 2009
BEGIN: 04:15 UT (00:15 EDT) END: 06:30 UT (02:30 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North
Observing site: Moosecreek, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
KCG (Kappa Cygnids)______________________________19:00 +59
PER (Perseids)___________________________________03:28 +58
ANT (antihelions)________________________________22:24 -08
SDA (Delta Aquarids)_____________________________23:28 -12
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)_________________________21:40 -04
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___F______LM_____SPO_PER_KCG_SDA_ANT_CAP

04:15-05:17___21:56 +26___1.01___1.00___5.62____4___2___0___1___0___1
05:17-06:30___23:34 +20___1.08___1.00___5.79____3___3___0___0___0___0

TOTALS:___________________2.09__________________7___5___0___1___0___1   
=  14


Notes: The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods, 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) Teff is  
simply the total time during the observing session spent actually  
watching the sky. Breaks and/or dead time are not included in the  
reported Teff. It is reported in decimal format such that a 60 minute  
observing session would be reported as Teff = 1.00. The column F is a  
correction when obstructions such as clouds block portions of the  
field of view (1.00 = 100% clear skies). The column (LM) is the  
average naked eye limiting magnitude seen.  All following columns  
indicate the number of meteors for each shower observed.  For more  
info, see: http://www.namnmeteors.org/guidechap2.html
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

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

SPO___0___1___0___2___3___1_____+2.43
PER___1___1___0___0___1___2_____+2.00
SDA___0___0___1___0___0___0_____+1.00
CAP___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+2.00

Notes: 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: 9.58 min (breaks and plots)

Breaks (UT): 4:49-50, 6:00-08