(meteorobs) Observation September 17/18 2010

[Pierre Martin]

The second September night was a two hours session that I did at  
Bootland Farm (west of Ottawa).  The late night clearing and moonset  
coincided perfectly with my intention to cover the morning hours  
(between 2:05-4:45am EDT).  Upon signing on, the Moon was out of  
sight, and the sky was impressively dark with above-average  
transparency.  It was a comfortable night with no fog despite a  
forecast calling for humidity.  Instead, a light breeze kept the air  
in motion.  But once the wind died down later on, it became very  
dewy.  While setting up, I spotted a gorgeous golden mag +1 South  
Taurid that descended into the east.

Observing a little over two hours effective time, I was surprised by  
the high sporadic rates.  They certainly made the bulk of the activity  
seen.  My plots show no less than 5 of them coming out of the north  
apex source, all of which were very swift meteors.  The brightest  
meteor, a mag -1 sporadic, came at 3:02am.  It left a 2 sec train.

Had a lovely view of the Zodiacal light towards the end of the session.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE:  September 17/18 2010
BEGIN: 06:05 UT (02:05 EDT) END: 08:45 UT (04:45 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, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
STA (South Taurids)_____________________________00:56 (014) +05
NUE (Nu Eridanids - IMO video data)_____________05:00 (075) +06

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

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

PERIOD(UT)___Teff___LM____SPO_STA_NUE

06:05-07:15__1.10___6.45__15___2___1
07:35-08:45__1.11___6.46__16___2___1

TOTALS:______2.21_________31___4___2  = 37


Note: The first column (Period UT) refers to the observed periods, in  
Universal Time. The second column (TEFF) is the effective observing  
time, it is minutes/60. The column (LM) is the average naked eye  
limiting magnitude, determined by the triangle star counts method. All  
following columns indicate the number of meteors for each shower  
observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
_____-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___1___5___2___4___5___8___6_____+2.77
STA___0___0___0___1___0___2___1_____+3.75
NUE___0___0___1___1___0___0___0_____+1.50


Note: 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: 7.54 min (plotting)

Breaks (UT): 7:15-35