(meteorobs) Observation April 21/22 2011

Pierre Martin pmartin at teksavvy.com
Wed May 25 00:33:40 EDT 2011


Hello all,

Here's my belated Lyrid meteor shower report ;)  I was out late at  
night for a short one hour session at the Pendleton Airport (about 45  
minutes east of Ottawa).  I was curious to see what the Lyrids were up  
to close to their nominal peak.  The 19 days old waning gibbous lurked  
some 15-20 degrees in the south-east.  To avoid the glare, I had my  
chair setup in the long shadow of my car, and I faced the northern  
sky, where it appeared darkest.  The sky was actually quite  
transparent given the moonlight, and I had little trouble seeing fifth  
mag stars towards the zenith.  There was however just the faintest  
hint of Milky Way visible in Cygnus, a far cry from what would be  
visible on a dark moonless night.  The temperature was unseasonably  
cool at just degrees over zero.  Given that I was also a bit tired, I  
felt rather chilly and underdressed, and I often fumbled with my  
charts.  But it was great to be out meteor observing again after being  
out of action since last December's Geminids.

The minute that I signed on at 3:10am, I was treated to a spectacular  
mag 0 sporadic earthgrazer that moved very slowly on a 30 degrees path  
in the north, and lasted several seconds.  It was a beauty with a  
vivid golden-yellow color.

The Lyrids looked quiet until I was surprised by a small "burst" at  
3:22am EDT.  As many as three Lyrids appeared in the span of just 20  
seconds!  All of which were faint (mag +4, +3 and +5) and shot in  
different directions.  A fourth Lyrid (mag +3) was seen just six  
minutes later.  This had me hoping that the Lyrids would be putting on  
a decent performance despite the Moon.  However, none were seen in the  
following 46 minutes of observing until I quit.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: April 21/22 2011
BEGIN: 07:10 UT (03:10 EDT) END: 08:14 UT (04:14 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.092 West; Lat: 45.568 North
Observing site: Pendleton Airport, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, cord align, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:____________________________radiant position
LYR (Lyrids)_________________________________18:13 (273) +32
ANT (Antihelion)_____________________________15:04 (226) -18
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)____FIELD_______Teff___LM_____SPO_LYR_ANT

07:10-08:14___15:31 +74___0.98___5.60____3___4___0  =  7


Notes: The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods, in  
Universal Time. The second column (Field) is the area in in the sky  
where I centered my field of view. The third column (TEFF) Teff is  
simply the total time during the observing session spent actually  
watching the sky. Breaks and/or dead time are not included in the  
reported Teff. It is reported in decimal format such that a 60 minute  
observing session would be reported as Teff = 1.00. The column (LM) is  
the average naked eye limiting magnitude seen.  All following columns  
indicate the number of meteors for each shower observed.  For more  
info, see: http://www.namnmeteors.org/guidechap2.html
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

LYR___0___0___0___2___1___1_____+3.75
SPO___1___0___0___1___1___0_____+2.33

Notes: 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: 5 min (plotting)

Breaks (UT): None






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