[Meteorobs] Observation October 18/19 2009

Pierre Martin dob14.5 at sympatico.ca
Sat Oct 24 13:15:10 EDT 2009


Here's my one and only report, so far, for this year's Orionids.  I  
was hoping to get out more around the peak nights, but the weather did  
not cooperate at all.  And the next few nights are looking rather  
questionable :(

Last Monday morning, I met up with Ivan Zuger at 2am in Arnprior, and  
we went to Bootland Farm to observe until morning dawn.  Ivan setup  
his 100mm refractor and was trying out his new 13mm Ethos. I had my  
mount and DSLR camera running (where I managed to capture a single  
Orionid).  The sky was very nice, with a limiting magnitude at the  
zenith close to 6.5.  As I was setting up, I could see that the  
Orionids were active, with some nice meteors.  It was a cold and humid  
night though, with the temperature plunging to -7C, and a thick frost  
layer accumulating all over the equipment.  I was glad of having  
remembered to bring my thick winter sleeping bag.

My first hour of observing was productive, with 25 meteors (19  
Orionids, 1 Epsilon Geminid, 1 north Taurid and 4 sporadics).  Right  
from the start, the Orionids came with a flurry... As many as 7  
Orionids were seen within just 10 minutes (between 3:52-4:01am EDT).   
During this flurry, a pair of Orionids were seen just one second apart.

I had planned to continue observing for a second full hour, but clouds  
forced me to quit just 38 minutes into it.  During that time, It  
looked as if the Orionids had settled down a bit with 7 members being  
recorded.

None were brighter than mag 0.  Many of the Orionids were faint.  The  
average Orionid magnitude was +3.19.

I also kept an eye out for OUI, SSA, OCU and LMI but none were seen.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: October 18/19 2009
BEGIN: 07:50 UT (03:50 EDT) END: 09:45 UT (05:45 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, cord align
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
ORI (Orionids)__________________________________06:12 +15
EGE (Epsilon Geminids)__________________________06:44 +28
NTA (North Taurids)_____________________________02:32 +19
STA (South Taurids)_____________________________02:34 +10
OUI (IMO video - October Ursa Minorids__________18:40 +76
SSA (IMO video - Sigma Arietids_________________03:26 +22
OCU (IMO video - October Ursa Majorids__________09:58 +63
LMI (Leo Minorids)______________________________10:21 +37
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD 
(UT 
)____FIELD_______Teff___F______LM_____SPO_ORI_EGE_NTA_STA_OUI_SSA_OCU_LMI

07:50-08:54___05:01  
+09___1.00___1.00___6.45____4___19__1___1___0___0___0___0___0
08:54-09:45___06:17  
+09___0.63___1.00___6.45____6___7___0___0___2___0___0___0___0

TOTALS 
:___________________1.63_________________10___26__1___1___2___0___0___0___0 
   =  40

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___0___0___1___4___3___2_____+3.60
ORI___2___2___4___6___5___7_____+3.19
STA___0___0___1___1___0___0_____+2.50
NTA___0___0___1___0___0___0_____+2.00
EGE___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00

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: 17 min (breaks)

Breaks (UT): 8:29-33, 9:14-27




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