(meteorobs) Observation July 16/17 2010

[Pierre Martin]

I had a short post-midnight session at Bootland Farm.  Although I was  
out on my own, I had some company there.  My arrival was greeted by a  
porcupine who was roaming along the driveway, followed by a bat who'd  
fly around my head (catching mosquitoes) for most of the hour I was  
out.  Reasonably decent skies overhead, but a haze or smog layer was  
present, which reduced the limiting magnitude.  The sky was rather  
hazy near the horizons.

I recorded 9 meteors (including two early Delta Aquarids and one Alpha  
Capricornid).  Near the end of the hour, I saw a possible Mu Lyrid  
(IMO video radiant) that reached mag -1 and flew a long and slowish 30  
degrees path.  That meteor would be the highlight of the night.   
Unfortunately, approaching cloud cover forced me to sign off after the  
first hour, which was earlier than I expected.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: July 16/17 2010
BEGIN: 04:30 UT (00:30 EDT) END: 05:35 UT (01:35 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
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)________________________19:56 (299) -13
ANT (antihelion)________________________________20:32 (308) -17
SDA (Delta Aquarids)____________________________22:12 (333) -19
JPE (July Pegasids)_____________________________23:36 (354) +13
PER (Perseids)__________________________________00:44 (011) +51
MUL (Mu Lyrids - IMO video data)________________18:12 (273) +39

----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___LM_____SPO_ANT_CAP_SDA_JPE_PER_MUL

04:30-05:35___20:04 +07___1.04___6.15____4___1___1___2___0___0___1  =  9

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 (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___0___0___2___1___1_____+2.75
SDA___0___0___0___0___1___1_____+3.50
ANT___0___0___0___0___1___0_____+3.00
CAP___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+2.00
MUL___1___0___0___0___0___0_____-1.00

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: 2.74 min (plotting)

Breaks (UT): None