[Meteorobs] Observation September 18/19 2009
Pierre Martin
dob14.5 at sympatico.ca
Sat Oct 24 13:05:10 EDT 2009
I spent a few hours (after midnight) at Bootland Farm to observe, and
I wasn't disappointed! The sky conditions on this night were
exceptionally good. It was one of those rare nights... I estimated
the transparency at about 4.5 out 5. The summer Milky Way was
glorious all the way to the horizon, and stars approaching mag 6.7
peppered the zenith. I thought I could maybe even see a hint of the
gegenshein, ever so faintly. The galaxy M33 was just barely visible,
as was the globular M15 (looking like a tiny patch next to a faint
star). Although the previous session at the more remote La Verendrye
site was darker still, I found myself enjoying this night even more
so. A light breeze kept everything dry and comfortable - and not even
a hint of dew! I also felt myself much more alert and awake compared
to the session at La Verendrye. By looking up and towards the south-
west (away from the dome of Ottawa/Arnprior), the sky in that
direction looked more like what I would expect to see at a Bortle
class 3 (blue zone) sky. What a great night!!
I had a fairly busy two hour meteor session. Sporadics were
consitently active, and kept me busy plotting. The South Taurids
produced low but noticeable activity. A few September Perseids were
seen too.
The big highlight above everything else was the dazzling mag -4 South
Taurid fireball at 12:07am EDT high up in the north-east. It moved a
long 50 degrees, flared brightly and fragmented spectacularly into at
least two bright pieces that continued for a few more degrees. It had
that classic "Taurid-like" fireball appearance too :) Certainly one
of this year's best meteors for me!
Before packing up at the end, I spent several minutes in my chair
observing with my 9x63mm binocs. I'm always impressed at just how
much these can pick up under ideal dark conditions. And on this
night, I sure was picking up many fine views!
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: September 18/19 2009
BEGIN: 03:45 UT (23:45 EDT) END: 06:05 UT (02:05 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North
Observing site: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
STA (South Taurids)______________________________00:56 +05
NUE (Nu Eridanids)_______________________________05:00 +07
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
03:40-04:46___22:59 +09___1.00___1.00___6.61___15___2___/___1
04:46-06:05___00:02 +09___1.16___1.00___6.68___14___4___/___2
TOTALS:___________________2.16_________________29___6___/___3 = 38
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
_____-4__-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE
SPO___0___0___0___0___1___4___2___6__11___5_____+3.28
STA___1___0___0___0___0___0___3___0___1___1_____+1.83
SPE___0___0___0___0___0___2___0___1___0___0_____+1.67
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: 5 min (break) + 10.11 min (plotting) = 15.11 min
Breaks (UT): 5:06-11
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