(meteorobs) Draconids from Portugal (VANMC)

[Michel Vandeputte]

Hi all,

I was lucky to observe the Draconid meteor outburst from Portugal thanks to a very last last minute crash far away from rainy Belgium. My girlfriend and I observed from the same place as for the famous Geminid return in 2007 and is located around  ~30km east from the lovely town Evora and not far away from the Spanish border. 
Skies were clear, bright moonlight at 40-45° alt. but the milky way stayed easily visible thanks to the lower humidity level in the atmosphere. 
Official observing time was between 19.00 - 22.00 UT (or 20.00 - 23.00 local time). I counted 267 meteors including 250 Draconids. I had my highest hourly count between 19:30 - 20:30 UT with 154 Draconids! 
I had a first peak in activity just before 20 UT followed by a short lull in activity in the first minutes after 20 UT. Then it was followed by a stronger peak with many Draconids.   
During this session I worked with one - minute intervals and had several minute countings with 3-4 even once up to 7 Draconids in one minute observing time. Some moments were really impressive with bursts from 2-3 Draconids at the same time. Most meteors were weak. Best one was a typical yellow -2 at the end of the session when meteor activity really dropped off in the last 30' period. Awesome how the earth crossed such a dust trail in nearly no time! Tomorrow I'll post all my data on the IMO server for further analyses. Glad I have seen this rare meteor outburst and congrats to all forcasters of this special event! 

Kind regards, 

Michel Vandeputte
VVS Meteor section Belgium.



Werkgroep Meteoren VVS - www.meteoren.be
Meteoren NV   http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteoren/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.meteorobs.org/pipermail/meteorobs/attachments/20111011/c3a6d5e9/attachment-0001.html