(meteorobs) Observation July 28/29 2012

Sat Oct 6 02:09:09 EDT 2012

The last week in July has long been among my favourite times of the year for meteor observing, when several minor showers are active at once, the Perseids continue to ramp up and the moderate Delta Aquariids (SDA) reach their peak.  I took advantage of the late setting Moon to setup at Bootland Farm and enjoy a couple of hours until morning twilight.

Sky was very good with above-average transparency (4/5), and it was very comfortable.  Just a slight dew, no bugs and mild temperature.  I really enjoyed the sounds of coyotes, deers among other noises in the distance.  The Bootland Farm site gives a sense of being much deeper in the wilderness than what it really is.  Overhead, the summer Milky Way blazed with lots of structure.  A number of SDA's traced long paths as I settled myself on my reclining chair and into my sleeping bag.

In an hour and a quarter, I saw 58 meteors.  The SDA's seemed to vanish as I signed on... very little of them seen during the first observing hour (but plenty of other meteors).  However the SDA's recovered nicely with 10 of them seen during the second hour, making them the most active shower of the night.  The Perseids were not too far behind with 9 meteors.

The brightest meteor was seen just as morning twilight began... a blue-green mag -1 antihelion with a 30 degrees path.

Not one but two bright (mag -4) ISS passes as well as a brilliant Iridium Flare topped off a very nice night!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario

DATE: July 28/29 2012
BEGIN: 05:50 UT (01:50 EDT) END: 8:15 UT (04:15 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.
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OBSERVED SHOWERS:
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) - 20:18 (305) -11
Antihelions (ANT) - 21:12 (318) -14
Delta Aquariids (SDA) - 22:42 (340) -16
Piscids Austrinids (PAU) - 22:48 (342) -29
Perseids (PER) - 01:46 (027) +54
Alpha Triangulids (ATR) - 02:02 (031) +40
July Zeta Draconids (ZED) - 18:06 (271) +62
July Gamma Draconids (GDR) - 18:42 (281) +51
SPO (sporadics)
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OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD_____Teff___F______LM____SPO_SDA_ANT_PER_CAP_ATR_PAU_GDR_ZED

05:50-06:51__319 +05___1.00___1.00___6.48___10__2___4___4___5___1___0___0___0
06:51-08:00__340 +07___1.00___1.00___6.54___5___10__2___5___1___3___1___1___0
08:00-08:15__006 +12___0.25___1.00___6.35___1___2___1___0___0___0___0___0___0

TOTALS:________________2.25_________________16__14__7___9___6___4___1___1___0  = 58

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
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MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
_____-1___0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___0___1___0___4___4___6___1_____+3.06
SDA___0___1___1___3___5___4___0_____+2.71
PER___0___0___1___2___4___1___1_____+2.89
ANT___1___1___0___0___1___3___1_____+2.71
CAP___0___3___0___1___0___1___1_____+1.83
ATR___0___1___0___1___1___0___1_____+2.50
PAU___0___0___0___1___0___0___0_____+2.00
GDR___0___0___0___0___1___0___0_____+3.00

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.
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SKY OBSCURED (FOV) (UT):  None

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Dead time: 1.16 min (for plots) & 9 min (for breaks)

Breaks (UT): 7:00-09