(meteorobs) Null report from Central Alberta on Gamma Delphinids

[Bruce McCurdy]

I gave it the old college try but guessed wrong on the site. Went to
Blackfoot and was basically socked in the entire time.  I put my limiting
magnitude right at 0.0 based on the observation that Vega was visible about
half the time! (I could often just make out a moon-sized glow, like a coma,
around a slightly brighter core, and concluded on my voice recorder that I
was seeing the light of Vega if not Vega itself.) Occasionally one of Deneb
or Altair would appear, by which I could fairly accurately place the
radiant. Gamma Delphini (which never did appear first or last) is a
colourful double star which I have swept up many times in the 7-inch
refractor at the observatory, so with even two reference stars in the Summer
Triangle I could place the radiant pretty precisely. 

 

I was fortunate indeed to see one meteor, which fairly likely was a gamma
Delphinid although I am not 100% confident about that. It happened in the
smallest of sucker holes, an interval of maybe 1-2 minutes where Vega
brightened up not to full intensity but maybe appeared to be a 2nd or 3rd
mag star for a time. Deneb was also readily visible. Just then a fainter
meteor flashed by just a degree or so to Vega's left and headed right up
into the zenith. Came from the "right" direction for where I had pegged the
radiant, and the velocity also seemed about right, sub-Perseid but moving
right along. (I'd read differing velocities of 45 & 57 km/s) This meteor was
timestamped at 08:15 UT. Given the conditions of the moment, I would
comfortably place it at magnitude 2.

 

It would have helped if I had a few other meteors to calibrate against,
mind. I did experience a couple of ghost meteors, somewhere below the
threshold of visibility and trending towards being in the head of the
observer, either as I moved it to try to "catch up" with the apparition, or
more generally just a(nother!) misfired neuron. Given the empirical facts at
my disposal -- lone individual sitting in a parking lot 50 km from home
keeping active watch on a cloudy sky at 2:30 AM while listening to static on
his car radio and talking to himself at random intervals -- there's
obviously a screw loose in there somewhere!

 

Speaking of the White Noise Channel, I monitored the radio fairly
assiduously and kept verbal notes around the time of the predicted peak.
Thanks to a very timely presentation from local radio-meteor buff Dave
Cleary at our Edmonton RASC meeting earlier yesterday evening, I tuned to
his recommended frequency of 89.7. (For years I had used 92.1 for this
purpose but it has recently been invaded by a local transmitter.) Among
other transmitters that band includes National Public Radio in Eugene,
Oregon, which at 1300 km from Edmonton is close to one of the radio sweet
spots. Many of the bursts I heard were decidedly jazzy; I checked the
station website after returning home and found a jazz show in the overnight
hours, so that fits. The rates were fairly low throughout, though there
seemed a slight surge around the predicted peak compared to background rates
in evidence before and after that time. Nothing extraordinary, though, and
said surge would likely disappear with impartial binning of time intervals. 

 

Did hear a couple of persistent bird calls which were not around at the time
of the eta Aquariids. Against the white noise of the static and the blank
canvas of the sky, they sounded like the Flower Duet. Helped make my trip
worthwhile. 

 

Glad I went in any event, would be kicking myself today if I hadn't. Anytime
I read news stories of rare meteor outbursts citing names like Jenniskens,
Lunsford, Barentsen and Rao, I sit up and take notice. If it also says
"western North America" I'm gassing up the car and giving it my best shot.
As Wayne Gretzky famously said, 100% of the shots you don't take, don't
score a goal. 

 

Bruce

*****

 

 

 

 

 

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