(meteorobs) Fine show of ETAs in Central Alberta

Tue May 14 02:30:26 EDT 2013

Very nice report, Bruce, about an almost 'tropical' meteor shower for our longitudes...

I will never forget that morning of May 6, 2013, filled with amazing earthgrazers before dawn. And I was lucky; it was the last clear night till now... And we do not have to expect new clear nights in the upcoming period. It looks as Automn returned over Western Europe...

Clear skies, 

Michel Vandeputte

> Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 12:49:36 -0400
> From: jonesp0854 at gmail.com
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Fine show of ETAs in Central Alberta
> 
> Great report, Bruce and congratulations!  I'd say the ETAs were very
> good indeed to many of us this year (with more warm thanks to Michel
> and Mikiya) .  It's awesome that you were able to do that well from
> such a high latitude.  Plus seems like you had the added advantage of
> having virtually every ETA you saw be an earthgrazer.  I may have had
> the quantity from down here in Florida, but you definitely had the
> quality department cornered up there...;o).
> 
> I am sort of bummed out that I have really only had the two cloud-free
> nights so far this May that I've reported on to get out and observe
> anything at all.  Usually early May is some of the very best weather
> of the year in Florida.  Not so this year...;o(.  I'm lucky I got
> anything at all the way our weather had been down here the last few
> months (lost BOTH the Leonids/Geminids last year and also the Lyrids
> this year).
> 
> Anyway, good luck on the upcoming summer showers and keep the reports
> coming.   I hope the weather Gods smile on all of us.
> 
> Clear skies, Paul in St. Augustine
> 
> On 5/10/13, Bruce McCurdy <bmccurdy at shaw.ca> wrote:
> > I love the eta Aquariid meteor shower like few others, even as it has never
> > much rewarded me with actual meteors. Way up here at 53½° north we are on
> > the fringes of the visibility zone, with a slow rising radiant, a fast (and
> > early) rising Sun, and a narrow window between the two.
> >
> > In five previous documented attempts to observe ETAs dating back to 2002, I
> > had never seen more than a single member of the shower in the 90 minutes or
> > so that they are theoretically visible. Still, with clear skies in the
> > forecast I was determined to make the trek out to my preferred dark site in
> > Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve, and penciled in the morning of May 6 as the
> > date that best fit my life schedule, one day later than my usual cinco de
> > mayo  attempt. It turned out to be a good choice, as persistence finally
> > paid off.
> >
> > Thanks in part to the heads-up from meteorobs list member Michel
> > Vandeputte,
> > I made sure to arrive by radiant rise. There was a single “normal” observer
> > (using the term somewhat loosely) on site who was just packing up, so I
> > stopped by to introduce myself. Within a few seconds I spotted an
> > Earth-grazer beginning a long westward trek across the northern part of the
> > sky, so I pointed & hollered “looklooklooklooklooklooklooklooklooklook!” at
> > least 10 “looks” at a beat rate of ~3 looks per second! (David did indeed
> > turn and look, and thanked me profusely for pointing it out.) One of the
> > longest meteor paths I’ve ever seen, well over 90°, just first-magnitude or
> > so but breathtaking. About one minute later there occurred a second
> > Earth-grazer through the zenith that was nearly as impressive that we both
> > saw. So before I even took to my chair I had already established a personal
> > record for most ETAs in one session!
> >
> > In the 90 minutes that followed shower members occurred at intervals of
> > 10-15 minutes. That’s slow going for most showers, but a veritable bounty
> > of
> > ETAs. Overall I saw 9 members, with about 7 of these of class “memorable”.
> > Many of them were colourful, primarily orange although there was one
> > bi-colour meteor of red & blue that was startling.
> >
> > In the second half of the session against brightening skies I saw four
> > meteors of magnitude -2 or brighter, with the champ being a searing -6 of a
> > pinky-orange tint that looked like it had been fired from a flare gun. That
> > one blew off 3 or 4 decent size chunks that dissipated in its wake, just a
> > spectacular sight. Without cross-referencing my past observations of
> > Orionids, I’m fairly sure this is the brightest piece of Halley’s Comet
> > that
> > I’ve ever seen.
> >
> > Over the time of the session I also saw four sporadic meteors, two Iridium
> > flares, a persistent arch of aurora in the north, and a nice moonrise of
> > the
> > waning crescent that interfered not at all with sky conditions which were
> > brightening of their own accord by then. I also saw or heard a plethora of
> > wildlife, including bats, ducks, a couple of owls, and a snipe, and twice
> > heard the distinctive “slap-sploosh” sound of a beaver dive. Thousands of
> > frogs kept up a constant chorus from the wetlands to my east and north –
> > David said they’d been going all night long, although eventually they
> > started to peter out and eventually stopped altogether for a brief time. In
> > all directions the birds started to wake up, easily a couple of dozen
> > distinct species though I recognized many more by song than I could
> > actually
> > name. It is this experience of hearing the world waking up in mid-spring
> > that has made this observing session a can’t-miss event (except when it’s
> > snowed out, which happens more frequently than you might expect given the
> > date). The meteors themselves are something of a bonus! But what a nice
> > bonus they were in 2013, putting on a truly memorable show.
> >
> > I waited through the brightening dawn in hopes of seeing one last fireball,
> > gradually watching first Deneb, then Altair, and finally Vega fade away in
> > the rising dawn. Eventually I gave it up and went on an invigorating 5 km
> > hike along some of the trails in the reserve, seemingly the only human
> > presence for miles around. When I eventually returned to the parking lot
> > around 9 a.m. mine was still the only car on site. At times, especially
> > when
> > the frogs were close, I couldn’t even hear the hum of traffic on the
> > Yellowhead Highway some 5 km to my north. Felt like just me and nature, an
> > awesome experience that left me feeling very much alive.
> >
> > A summary of my meteor obs is here:
> > http://vmo.imo.net/imozhr/obsview/view.php?id=11918  although it hardly
> > seems to do justice to a memorable night. Definitely one for the Life List.
> >
> >
> > Bruce
> > *****
> >
> >
> >
> >
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