(meteorobs) Observation October 7/8 2010

[Pierre Martin]

On October 7, I went to the Irvine Lake airstrip, about 2 hours drive  
west of Ottawa to join several observers who were prepared for a multi- 
night stay.  I was especially excited at the prospect of a long night  
of observing, and getting some good meteor coverage.  The night looked  
very promising as it was crystal clear, without a single cloud in the  
sky.  However, the transparency was disappointing, and definitely  
below average.  As a result, my limiting magnitudes were unusually low  
for such a pristine site.  That being said, it was a productive night  
that went on from 9:01pm to 2:46am EDT for me, with over 5 hours of  
effective meteor observing time.  I faced the northern sky for the  
entire night, to keep an eye out for Draconids.

Sporadics rates looked quite typical.  The South Taurids were quite  
active (coming into my FOV), and some weak presence was seen from the  
other active sources.  The brightest meteor was a mag -1 Delta Aurigid  
at 2:00am EDT, but the nicest was a fragmenting mag 0 South Taurid  
seen earlier at 11:33pm.

The end of the night was at or a bit below the freezing point, with an  
accumulation of frost on my sleeping bag.  But I was comfortable  
enough inside to sleep outside for a few hours into the morning.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: October 7/8 2010
BEGIN: 01:01 UT (21:01 EDT) END: 06:46 UT (02:46 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77 15' West; Lat: 45 1' North Elevation: 800 ft
City & Province: Irvine Lake Airstrip (near Denbigh), 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_GIA_OCT_STA_ORI_EPC_DAU

01:01-02:05__1.03___6.46___6___0___0___1___/___1___1
02:33-03:35__1.01___6.40___6___1___1___5___/___0___0
03:35-04:36__1.01___6.35___4___1___0___3___/___0___1
04:36-05:37__1.00___6.35__11___0___1___5___0___0___2
05:37-06:46__1.15___6.35__14___0___0___2___0___1___2

TOTALS:______5.20_________41___2___2__16___0___2___6  = 69


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___0___1___2___6___7__11__14_____+3.63
STA___0___2___2___3___2___4___3_____+2.81
DAU___1___0___2___1___0___0___2_____+2.16
GIA___0___0___0___0___1___0___1_____+4.00
OCT___0___0___0___0___1___1___0_____+3.50
EPC___0___0___0___0___2___0___0_____+3.00


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: 0.5 min (break) + 4.33 min (plotting) = 4.83 min

Breaks (UT): 2:05-33, 5:18 (30 sec)