(meteorobs) Observation December 20/21 2011

[Pierre Martin]

Greetings,

I am catching up on some old observing reports.  My past few weeks  
have been plagued by a bad cold followed by a hectic schedule.  This  
one was from my late December session at Bootland Farm.   It was a  
special treat to observe at Bootland Farm so late in the year, without  
any snow accumulation.  I do not recall ever observing at this  
location so late in the season!  The temperature, at -10C (14F) was  
also higher than usual for a clear December night, which made it that  
much more enjoyable.  The observing field was frozen and a little  
bumpier than usual to drive on.  The lack of any wildlife noise  
(crickets, mosquitoes, owls, etc) was striking... Most of the session  
was complete silence.  Only the odd distant sound of cars would break  
that silence, though the coyotes (possibly wolves) were heard halfway  
in the session.

This was just a one hour pre-midnight session to check out for  
possible early Ursids - but also mainly just to enjoy being out  
again.  I did not expect to see many meteors, and indeed, only 9 were  
seen in all, including just one Ursid.  However, I saw a couple of  
gorgeous meteors!  At 21:32 (local), my first sighting was a mag -3  
sporadic fireball that descended on a shallow angle, very low in the  
east, cutting across the tree line.  The most impressive meteor,  
though, came at 21:57 (local) in the form of a spectacular, very slow  
moving earthgrazer.  It persisted for several seconds, traveling 50  
degrees high in the north (from Cepheus to Ursa Minor) with a deep  
golden/orange color.  This was easily among the year's most impressive  
meteors for me!  Was a nice way to end 2011!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: December 20/21 2011
BEGIN: 02:20 UT (21:20 EST) END: 03:30 UT (22:30 EST)
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:
Ursids (URS) - 13:58 (210) +76
Antihelions (ANT) - 06:36 (099) +23
Monocerotids (MON) - 07:03 (106) +07
December Leonis Minorids (DLM) - 10:39 (160) +31
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD_____Teff___F______LM____SPO_URS_ANT_MON_DLM

02:20-03:30__118 +78___1.14___1.00___6.18___5___1___3___0___0  =  9

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
_____-3__-2__-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4______AVE

SPO___1___0___1___1___0___1___0___1_____+0.40
ANT___0___0___0___0___0___0___3___0_____+3.00
URS___0___0___0___0___0___0___0___1_____+4.00

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):  10% from 00:00UT to 03:15UT (high cirrus  
clouds)

------------------------

Dead time: 1.4 min (plotting)

Breaks (UT): None



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