(meteorobs) 248 Draconids from Northern Germany (LANMA results)
Marco Langbroek
marco.langbroek at wanadoo.nl
Mon Oct 10 16:27:37 EDT 2011
Hi all,
Just back from observing the Draconid meteor outburst from Sleswig-Holstein,
N-Germany. From a field near a small hamlet called, very suitably, "Dunkelsdorf"
("darkvillage"). What a nice show we saw, even with the moon!
We had a very transparent and clear sky with nothwithstanding the moon a
limiting magnitude (me personally) of +6.3 and visible milky way up to Perseus.
I observed looking north with my back to the moon. Counted 248 Draconids (plus
24 sporadic meteors) in 2.77 hours effective observing time. During the peak
moment at about 20:04 UT, I saw 3-4 Draconids per minute for a short while. Most
were faint. My data suggest a peak ZHR of about 250.
As supporting part of the 2011 Draconid Airborne Mission, Peter Jenniskens
(SETI/NASA-Ames) and us (Carl Johannink and me, DMS) set up a multi-station
effort with video units situated 91 km apart using two of Peter's CAMS systems.
While we formed the "remote" post at Lebatz/Dunkelsdorf, Peter manned the
primary post at Kühlungsborn (German Baltic coast), 91 km east of us, as a
guest at the Leibniz Institut für Atmosphären Physik (IAP).
Michael Gerding (IAP) meanwhile operated the IAP Potassium LIDAR at the primary
site. They tried to detect meteor debris/ionization trails at 95 km altitude
with the LIDAR, trails from the same meteors that we simultaniously filmed. Very
impressive to see this massive laser beam in operation the night before
(test-run), when we were too still at Kühlungsborn (we relocated 91 km westwards
the day of the maximum, picking the location for our secondary station based on
the latest weather prospects). A picture of the LIDAR beam I shot that
night-before can be seen here: http://draconids.seti.org/ (scroll down a bit
on the page).
Preliminary multistation results on 28 Draconid meteors, yielded a geocentric
radiant at RA 262.8, dec +55.5 degrees (apparent radiant at about RA 267, +57.5,
changing a bit over the night due to zenith-attraction). It could have been
more, were it not that (unlike us - we had a crystal clear sky and filmed
hundreds of meteors) Kühlungsborn suffered from cloud fields during parts of the
period.
I wish to warmly thank Dr Michael Gerding and his team at the IAP for their
hospitality in Kühlungsborn. It was a great experience!
- Marco
night 2011-10-08/09
begin 2011-10-08 1845
end 2011-10-08 2200
observer "Marco" "Langbroek" "LANMA"
location 10 35 42 E, 53 58 33 N
site "Dunkelsdorf" "Germany"
// Interval (UT) RA Dec Teff F Lm GIA SPO
period 1845-1850 000 +80 0.083 1.00 6.40 C 5 C 1
period 1900-1910 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.40 C 9 C 3
period 1910-1925 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 11 C 1
period 1925-1935 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 19 C 0
period 1935-1945 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 11 C 1
period 1945-1957 000 +80 0.200 1.00 6.30 C 17 C 2
period 1957-2010 000 +80 0.217 1.00 6.30 C 41 C 2
period 2010-2019 000 +80 0.150 1.00 6.30 C 27 C 1
period 2022-2035 000 +80 0.217 1.00 6.30 C 20 C 4
period 2035-2050 000 +80 0.217 1.00 6.30 C 25 C 1
period 2050-2100 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 11 C 2
period 2100-2110 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 13 C 1
period 2110-2115 000 +80 0.083 1.00 6.30 C 3 C 1
period 2124-2142 000 +80 0.300 1.00 6.30 C 21 C 2
period 2142-2150 000 +80 0.133 1.00 6.30 C 8 C 1
period 2150-2200 000 +80 0.167 1.00 6.30 C 7 C 1
// Show Interval -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 +0 +1
+2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 Tot
distribution GIA 1845-2200 - - - - - 1.0 4.0 13.0
53.0 104.0 73.0 - - - 248.0
distribution SPO 1845-2200 - - - - - - - 1.0
5.0 12.0 6.0 - - - 24.0
// Personal comments
Very transparent sky, milky way visible up to Perseus nothwithstanding moon.
Looking north, away from moon.
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