(meteorobs) IMO Summary - Eta Aquarid post-peak - 2011 May 07 - south Florida

[Lew Gramer]

My two nephews and I planned to observe the Eta Aquarids post-peak from the
relative darkness of the Florida Everglades early Saturday morning, 07 May.
The ETA radiant rises near 3am at our latitude, so we got out to the empty
parking lot at Mahogany Hammock nature trail well after 1am to set up. Seeing
was steady, temperatures cool, bugs minimal - a beautiful night! There had
been cirrus over my nearby town of Homestead that evening, so I expected soft
transparency when we got out to the Glades - but instead, the sky was clear as
I could hope for. The ETA radiant was low and the shower quiet, however, while
the nephews had plans the next day: so we had to stop before 4:30am.

During the watch, though, we enjoyed hearing the calls of several different
species of wading birds, some owls, the ever-present crickets and frogs, and
possibly a far-off gator's territorial rumble. And the green "headlights" of
many south Florida "fireflies" (click beetles) floated all around us as well.

Highlight of the night was seen only by my younger nephew: an early, grazing
mag 1 Eta Aquarid that (from his description) covered over 40 degrees of sky!

I'd also planned to go out Sunday morning (08 May). But unfortunately, a bank
of low cloud cover persisted over Homestead (and according to sat pix, over
the southern Glades) until my last check after 1am, so I gave up on it.


SUMMARY:
Observer's Name: Lewis J. Gramer        IMO Observer Code: GRALE
Date (UT): 07-May-2011                  Start (UT): 06:13,  End (UT): 08:11

Observing Site:  Mahogany Hammock, Everglades, Florida, USA
Latitude: +25.324       Longitude:  -80.832     Elevation:   1m

Showers Observed
Shower Name:            Eta Aquarids    Eta Lyrids
3-letter Code:          ETA             ELY
Declination:            0               +44
Right Ascen.:           22:36           19:00
Radiant  Size (deg):    5               10

PERIOD SUMMARY of All Meteor Data for Session:
Start   End     CFV     Teff    LM      F       ETA     ELY     Spor    TOTAL
6:13    8:11    16h+15  1.79    6.81    1.000   C|14    C|4     C|17    35
Average Magnitudes                              2.64    2.25    3.59    3.06

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
        -1      0       1       2       3       4       5       6       TOTAL
=============================================================================
ETA     1       1       1       1       6       3       1       0       14
ELY     0       1       0       1       1       1       0       0       4
Spor    0       0       0       4       3       6       4       0       17
=============================================================================
TOTAL   1       2       1       6       10      10      5       0       35

GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT SESSION:
 Summary data will also be submitted to IMO Quick Look site.
 ANT not specifically recorded - though they seem to be quite active.
 Recording dead-time per meteor (random sampling): 3 sec.
 Observed with two nephews (ages 14 and 17).
 Favored observing site of local astronomy club - but none present.
 Temperature during watch 63oF, humidity ~ 60%, few bugs.


Clear skies all,
Lew Gramer