[Meteorobs] Observation September 16/17 2009

[Pierre Martin]

On this night, about 15 observers from Montreal and Ottawa met at the  
La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve airstrip (about 225km north of Ottawa),  
where we spent a wonderful full night of observing under the pristine  
skies.  The sky conditions were very good, the seeing was especially  
exceptional, and the company was most enjoyable.  I took in many sharp  
high powered views of various deep sky objects with my 12.5" Dob (the  
most memorable views among the many things observed were M13, Cat's  
Eye nebula, Blinking nebula, North America and Veil nebula and  
Jupiter... But the highlight for me was seeing M42's core seen at high  
power in Allan Rahill's 28" Dob.  It was simply breathtaking!).  To  
the naked eye, the gengenshein was visible.

I had planned to use the last two hours towards dawn for meteor  
observing.  I was however only able to do one hour, due to increasing  
ground fog.  During this hour, the limiting magnitude reached 6.8 at  
the zenith and I was able to log a total of 17 meteors (see details  
below).

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: September 16/17 2009
BEGIN: 06:50 UT (02:50 EDT) END: 08:08 UT (04:08 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 46 59' North
Observing site: Réserve Faunique La Verendrye, Québec, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
STA (South Taurids)______________________________00:38 +04
NUE (Nu Eridanids)_______________________________04:44 +03
SPE (September Perseids)_________________________04:40 +48
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___F______LM_____SPO_STA_NUE_SPE

06:50-08:08___02:45 +10___1.00___1.00___6.75___14___1___0___2  =  17

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__+5______AVE

SPO___1___3___3___1___3___1___2_____+1.93
SPE___0___0___0___0___0___2___0_____+4.00
STA___0___0___0___0___0___0___1_____+5.00

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: 12 min (break) + 5.81 min (plotting) = 17.81 min

Breaks (UT): 7:18-30