[Meteorobs] Observation August 31/Sept 1 2009

[Pierre Martin]

I was out looking for Aurigids on the morning of September 1.  Despite  
the good sky conditions at the Moosecreek site, the Aurigids were  
silent.  Only one possible member was seen.  The decent sporadics  
rates made up for the lack of shower activity.

The highlight came at 3:50am EDT when a sporadic earthgrazer appeared,  
and took a few long seconds to crawl along a path of 30 degrees.  It  
only reached mag +4 but flared multiple times in and out of  
visibility, like a rock skipping on a pond.  It eventually faded very  
gradually from view, like a graceful exit.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: August 31/Sept 1 2009
BEGIN: 06:55 UT (02:55 EDT) END: 08:55 UT (04:55 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
ANT (antihelions)________________________________23:16 -03
AUR (Alpha Aurigids)_____________________________06:06 +39
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___F______LM_____SPO_AUR_ANT

06:55-07:57___03:22 +23___1.00___1.00___6.40____9___1___0
07:57-08:55___04:24 +24___0.93___1.00___6.43___10___0___3

TOTALS:___________________1.93_________________19___1___3  =  23

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
______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___2___2___6___2___6___1_____+2.58
AUR___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00
ANT___0___1___0___1___1___0_____+2.66

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: 3.97 min (all for plotting)

Breaks (UT): none