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

[Paul Jones]

Lew,
     I second Michael's praise, great observations indeed!  I see where your
Lms in the 'glades were a good full magnitude fainter than mine were here in
north Florida (due no doubt mostly to the thickening smoke haze we are
having from all the wildfires).  I got out briefly again on Sunday morning
(report to follow), but could only manage Lms of around 5.5 and did not see
very much.  Once again, stresses the importance of dark skies to catch the
fainter meteors.  I'm glad you were able to catch a few eta Lyrids, too.
This is an intrigiung radiant to be sure and one I hope I can monitor
further in future years.  I'm shut down for further observations now until
such time as the wildfire smoke clears.  Anyone got a few good inches of
rain they can send to Florida?  We sure need them!

Clear skies, Paul

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 6:15 PM, Lew Gramer <Lew.Gramer at noaa.gov> wrote:

> 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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