(meteorobs) Observation May 4/5 2013

Pierre Martin pmartin at teksavvy.com
Wed May 29 00:20:53 EDT 2013


Hi all,

It has been a long while since I've been out for some formal meteor observing.  After a long string of poor weather this Spring, there was finally a nice weekend and a chance to get out on two mornings to see the Eta Aquarids (ETA).  Motivated by the alert from Mikiya Sato about the old dust trails approaching the Earth (increasing the odds of enhanced rates), I decided to try it out!

I set my alarm to wake me up late at night, and I took off for an hour's drive to the Bootland Farm site.  Gorgeous skies, pleasantly mild temperature, no bugs and virtually no dew.  I could hardly ask for any better!  As I pulled into the entrance, got out of the car to open up the gate, I glanced up and could easily see the Milky Way even though my eyes were nowhere near dark adaptation.  Then by chance, a fast sporadic zipped across Cygnus...a nice way to start.  The meteor was a bit strange-looking.  It had an unusual, almost "fake" appearance to it, a bit like the artificial ones that we sometimes see in older movies with so-so special effects.  Only this one was real.

I signed on just before 3am (local time) to begin my meteor watch.  It was a nice night punctuated by a chorus of Spring Peepers out in the distance.  The temperature was a pleasant +7C, and the rising crescent moon at 3:40am caused just a minor interference.  It took just about twenty minutes to see the first of several spectacular earthgrazers.  That first ETA was only mag +4 but it shot an impressive 60 degrees, even leaving a thin wake, which was nice to see for such a dim meteor.  It was followed just ten seconds later by a much brighter mag 0 ETA that was seen just off the corner of my eye.  The next hour and a half or so went on to produce another ten impressive earthgrazers, many with 40 or 50 degrees paths that sliced through many constellations.  Lots of bright mag -1 and 0 ETAs!  There was also a number of other shorter ETAs seen closer to the radiant.  An impressive display!

The 18 ETAs seen on this morning may not sound huge, but this was still by far the most Eta Aquarids that I've ever seen in a single session! (Until now, the best ETA year for me was 2011 with 12 seen).  I would have been satisfied with 2 or 3 nice 'grazers but this really made it a unique night.  As I observed, I occasionally regretted my decision to go visual-only and leaving the cameras at home.  But then again, my main goal was just to be out and enjoy - and this was fulfilled nicely.



May 4/5 2013 06:50-8:35 UT (02:50-04:35 EDT)
30 sec (plotting), no other breaks
Location: Bootland Farm, Ontario, Canada 
(Long: -76 deg 29'; Lat: 45 deg 23')

Observed showers:
Antihelion (ANT) - 15:52 (238) -20
Eta Aquariids (ETA) - 22:36 (339) -01

06:50-07:51 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 6.30; facing E 50 deg; teff 1.01 hr.
ETA: eleven: -1(3); 0(2); +2(2); +3; +4(2); +5; mean: +1.54
Sporadics: three: +1(2); +5; mean: +2.33
Total meteors: fourteen

07:51-08:35 UT; clear; F 1.00; LM 5.97; facing E 60 deg; teff 0.733 hr.
ETA: seven: -2; -1; 0; +1; +2; +3; +4; mean: +1.00
Sporadics: three: 0; +2(2); mean: +1.33
Total meteors: ten



Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario





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