(meteorobs) Observation October 5/6 2010

[Pierre Martin]

I went to Bootland Farm early on the evening of October 5, as I was  
particularly interested in checking for any October Camelopardalids,  
near the predicted peak time.  The sky was very good, with just some  
cloudiness low in the south (well away from my field of view, as I  
wanted to look to the north).  It was a mild night, about 10C, with a  
nice breeze keeping the surroundings dry.

I managed to observe for a little over an hour under ideal conditions,  
before the clouds gradually encroached into the northern sky.  For  
such a short early evening session, I was impressed at all the  
activity!  Not only were the October Camelopardalids weakly active,  
but a few early Draconids were seen too!  Even more surprising was the  
appearance of four Delta Aurigids (DAU), coming out of a very low  
radiant in the north-east!  The first DAU was seen at 9:11pm EDT and  
it was an impressive mag +3 earthgrazer rapidly traversing 70 degrees  
of the sky!  The brightest meteor of the session was a mag -1 yellow- 
white sporadic at 9:33pm.

I wish the clouds would have stayed away a little longer ;)

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: October 5/6 2010
BEGIN: 00:55 UT (20:55 EDT) END: 02:10 UT (22:10 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

GIA (Draconids)_________________________________17:28 (262) +56
EPC (October Epsilon Piscids - IMO video data)__00:05 (002) +14
STA (South Taurids)_____________________________01:46 (026) +08
ORI (Orionids)__________________________________05:28 (082) +16
OCT (October Camelopardalids)___________________11:13 (110) +79
DAU (Delta Aurigids)____________________________05:56 (089) +49

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

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

PERIOD(UT)___Teff___LM____SPO_OCT_GIA_STA_ORI_EPC_DAU

00:55-02:10__1.19___6.35___7___2___3___3___/___0___4  =  19


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___0___0___0___0___5___1_____+3.43
DAU___0___0___1___0___1___1___1_____+3.25
GIA___0___0___0___0___2___0___1_____+3.66
STA___0___0___1___0___0___2___0_____+3.00
OCT___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: 0.33 min (break) + 3.5 min (plotting) = 3.83 min

Breaks (UT): 1:38 (20 sec)