(meteorobs) Observation October 7/8 2011

Pierre Martin pmartin at teksavvy.com
Tue Nov 29 00:08:38 EST 2011


I was out at Bootland Farm on the evening before the predicted major  
European Draconid outburst.  The Moon was just four days before Full  
and would cause major interference.  I was however curious to find out  
if the Draconids would start to be active already.

To reduce the effects of the moon's glare, I used a large umbrella  
mounted on a tripod, and I faced the northern sky (the darker portion  
of the sky, and also the direction of the radiant).  The night was  
extremely comfortable with an unseasonably high temperature of 18C  
(64F)!  It was so mild that I never bothered taking out my sleeping  
bag.  The night was also very dry with absolutely no signs of dew and  
a nice breeze from the south-west.  The sky was crystal clear with mag  
5.0 stars visible at the limit, despite the Moon.  As I setup, a  
casually saw a nice and slow mag +1 Taurid.

In two hours observing, I saw just 7 meteors, all of which were  
sporadics.  No signs of Giacobinids yet!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: October 7/8 2011
BEGIN: 01:00 UT (21:00 EDT) END: 03:00 UT (23:00 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North
Observing site: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:
Draconids (GIA) - 17:28 (262) +54
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD_____Teff___LM____SPO_GIA

01:00-02:00__301 +73___1.00___5.00___3___0
02:00-03:00__301 +73___1.00___5.00___4___0

TOTALS:________________2.00__________7___0

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
_____+1__+2__+3__+4______AVE

SPO___1___2___2___2_____+2.71

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: None

Breaks (UT): None


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