(meteorobs) Observation October 8/9 2012

[Pierre Martin]

Hi all,

My attempt to view the Draconids was vastly overshadowed by a brief but unexpectedly spectacular aurora display!  By far the best show that I've seen so far in this solar cycle.

My arrival at the Bootland Farm site just before 8pm EDT was met with 60% cloudy skies, and what appeared as a dim auroral glow to the north.  Temperature was +3C and the sky transparency (in clear areas) was below-average (2/5).  Fortunately, the sky cleared minutes later and clouds were no longer an issue.

For this meteor watch, I faced the northern sky to look for any possible Draconids.  Soon after signing on, the aurora quickly grew into a brilliant display of spikes, curtains and glowing greenish patches throughout the entire northern sky, reaching all the way to the zenith.  Wow!  The surroundings around me were illuminated in an eerie green light and shadows were sharply visible.  The aurora grew to a corona at the zenith, and then huge glowing patches of light to my left and right, and all the way to the south!  Any dim stars stood no chance against this impressive display.  By 9pm, streamers spilled all around, and suddenly, I found myself staring at an all sky aurora!!!  For the next several minutes, the activity was so intense that formal meteor observing in any direction of the sky became essentially impossible :)

Eventually, the aurora subsided and I could resume the meteor watch.  The rates were not too impressive in general, but the South Taurids were weakly active and I did plot two very faint but possible Draconids.

The best meteor was a mag 0 yellowish Taurid that travelled 40 degrees into the western sky.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: October 8/9 2012
BEGIN: 00:20 UT (20:20 EDT) END: 03:10 UT (23:10 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, cord align.
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:
October Draconids (GIA) - 17:28 (262) +54
Southern Taurids (STA) - 02:00 (030) +08
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

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

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD_____Teff___F______LM____SPO_GIA_STA

00:20-01:36__263 +74___1.00___1.00___6.15___3___1___1
01:36-02:36__278 +73___1.00___1.00___6.20___3___1___1
02:36-03:10__293 +73___0.48___1.00___6.20___4___0___2

TOTALS:________________2.48_________________10__2___4  = 16

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

SPO___0___0___2___4___2___2_____+3.40
STA___1___1___0___1___1___0_____+2.00
GIA___0___0___0___0___1___1_____+4.50

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: 21 min (breaks and plots)

Breaks (UT): 00:30-45, 02:39-44



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