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

[Michel Vandeputte]

Nice reading your report Lew...
Gator's noises....brrr....I am only used to hear the sounds of owls and foxes... 
I was able to observe 3 ETA's during three nights (May 2-3, 3-4 and 4-5). One nice earthgrazing +1 ETA showed a magnificent trail between the Aquila - Delphinus border and the head of Draco. 
ETA's from Belgium are pretty unique meteors; at best we could see 1-2 shower members in the last hour before dawn. 

I was wondering how this meteor shower perform in the southern atmosphere; perhaps this could be a project for me in the future... 

Long trains,



Michel Vandeputte
 



> Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 18:15:40 -0400
> From: Lew.Gramer at noaa.gov
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> CC: namn at namnmeteors.org
> Subject: (meteorobs) IMO Summary - Eta Aquarid post-peak - 2011 May 07 -	south Florida
> 
> 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
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