(meteorobs) Observation August 11/12 2013

[Pierre Martin]

On Sunday night/Monday morning, the peak night of the Perseids for North America, I got togther with Ivo and Shane at Westmeath Lookout (about 2 hours drive west of Ottawa).  The sky had variable amounts of clouds when we got there, but the weather forecasts were calling for clearing skies there around midnight or 1am, so we were ready to wait it out.  We all proceeded to setting up various cameras and lawn chairs at the top of the hill.  Lots of casual Perseids (PERs) in between clouds!! 

At 1am (local time), the sky fully cleared up as predicted.  It remained clear and consistently mag 6.6 overhead.  The zodiacal band was evident especially late in the session.  With my two cameras going, I wasted no time settling in and signing-on with my field of view facing halfway up in the east.  It was very windy and a cool comfortable 13C.  No bugs, aside from the occasional cricket or earwig ;)  I observed for close to three and a half hours until dawn and saw 294 meteors (251 of which were PERs).

The first hour was impressive enough with 70 PERs, not counting sporadic and minor shower activity.  At 1:25am, I saw a bright flash that made me turn my head to the north; towards Ursa Major - And there was the persistent train of a possible Kappa Cygnid (KCG) fireball!  One of my two cameras captured part of this fireball along with the drifting persistent train visible for over 30 minutes through multiple photos!!  Also at 1:25am, a pair of simultaneous PERs!

The second hour was the most active with 84 PERs, including several long meteors.  The brightest PER during this hour was a mag -3 long 30 degrees with a 10 sec train.  The KCGs got particularly active with a mag -4 fireball that flared twice and left a 5 sec train.  Later, another gorgeous KCG was seen, this time a yellow-orange mag -3 that crawled down in the south-east, ending with a small flash.  This hour also brought a couple of simultaneous PER pairs...The most exciting moment came at 2:59am when a mag 0 PER shot in the square of Pegasus, and at the same time, a mag +2 PER appeared just a few degrees from it...It looked like two meteors flying in formation!  Sporadic activity was a bit on the low side.

The third hour went by with 77 PERs and had some of the brightest meteors of the night.  The mag -5 PER fireball at 3:48am shot over 30 degrees and left a 12 sec persistent train.  A close second was a mag -4 blue-green PER fireball at 4:25am that left a 10 sec train.  I saw two more instances of simultaneous PERs pairs...always exciting when that happens.  This hour produced a fair number of highly foreshortened PERs near the radiant.  Sporadic rates were again lower than expected.  Saw a great many satellites including lots of tumbling objects.

I continued observing another 24 minutes into morning dawn, as long as possible until the sky became too bright.  I saw another 20 PERs.

What a night!  As Ivo, Shane and I packed up and chatted a bit before leaving, we saw much to our surprise a few more bright PERs streak across the bright blue sky, even though we could no no longer see any stars.  The last one I saw without even trying was at 5:25am (local time) just 35 min before the actual sunrise!


August 11/12 2013 2013, 05:10-08:50 UT (01:10-04:50 EDT)
Location: Westmeath Lookout (Beachburg), Ontario, Canada 
(Long: -76 deg 51' 32"; Lat: 45 deg 47' 34")

Observed showers:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) - 18:56 (284) +49
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) - 20:45 (311) -07
Antihelions (ANT) - 22:04 (331) -10
Delta Aquariids (SDA) - 23:28 (352) -13
Eta Eridanids (ERI) - 02:56 (044) -11
Perseids (PER) 03:12 (048) +58
Alpha Triangulids (ATR) - 03:12 (048) +40


Period 1: 05:10-06:17 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 6.65; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr.
Break: 06:05-06:12 (7 min dead time)
PER: seventy: -1(3); 0(7); +1(6); +2(17); +3(17); +4(9); +5(11)
ANT: two: +4; +5
SDA: two: +3; +4
KCG: one: +4
ERI: one: +4
CAP: none
Sporadics: six: +4; +5(5)
Total meteors: eighty-two

Period 2: 06:17-07:26 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 6.65; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr.
Break: 07:05-07:14 (9 min dead time)
PER: eighty-four: -3; -2(2); 0(9); +1(10); +2(14); +3(13); +4(25); +5(10)
KCG: four: -4; -3; +4; +5
ANT: two: +3; +4
SDA: two: +2; +4
CAP: one: +4
ERI: one: +5
ATR: one: +2
Sporadics: six: +3(3); +4(3)
Total meteors: one-hundred-one

Period 3: 07:26-08:26 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 6.65; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr.
PER: seventy-seven: -5; -4; -2; -1(2); 0; +1(12); +2(17); +3(11); +4(20); +5(11)
ATR: four: +1; +2; +4(2)
KCG: one: 0
ANT: one: +4
SDA: one: +5
ERI: one: +3
CAP: none
Sporadics: five: +1; +3(2); +4(2)
Total meteors: ninety

Period 4: 08:26-08:50 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 5.80; facing E70 deg; teff 0.40 hr.
PER: twenty: -2; 0(3); +1(4); +2(4); +3(6); +4(2)
KCG: none
CAP: none
ANT: none
SDA: none
ERI: none
ATR: none
Sporadics: one: +4
Total meteors: twenty-one


Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario