(meteorobs) Observation May 5/6 2013

[Pierre Martin]

I went out again on the following morning; this time at the Moosecreek site (east of Ottawa) for a short one hour teff.  This made it a shorter drive for me, given that I had to be at work later that morning.  It was another comfortable and mild session.  The Moosecreek site was extremely noisy with incessant "peeps", "quacks" and "tweets" coming from every direction.  I wanted to start formal observing sooner than I did, but an unexpected sheet of cirro-cumulus got in the way.  I began thinking that the session was a bust, but the clouds gradually dissipated.  In the meantime, the Eta Aquarids (ETA) were obviously very active, with some gorgeous earthgrazers easily seen through the clouds!  This included a flaring mag -2 ETA seen high up.

I signed on at 3:25am (local time) and observed for one hour.  Of the twelve ETAs seen, eight were considered earthgrazers; the longest being 50 degrees.  The brightest ETA was a mag -1 yellow-orange streak that shot low in the north just after 4am.

It seemed like the ETA activity was picking up again as I packed and morning twilight was quickly taking over.  On the way back home, I saw a few more meteors including a probable mag -4 ETA shooting down low in the west.  That last one was seen at 5:08am(!) with a deep blue sky just 35 minutes or so before sunrise.  Definitely quite impressive!



May 5/6 2013 07:25-8:25 UT (03:25-04:25 EDT)
No breaks
Location: Moosecreek, Ontario, Canada 
(Long: -75.063; Lat: 45.269)

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

07:25-08:25 UT; thin patchy clouds dissipating then clear; F 1.09; LM 6.06; facing E 50 deg; teff 1.00 hr.
ETA: twelve: -1; 0; +1(3); +2; +3(3), +4(3); mean: +2.08
Antihelion: two: +3(2)
Sporadics: six: +2(2); +3; +4(3); mean: +3.16
Total meteors: twenty



Many thanks to Michel Vandeputte for quickly alerting the meteor community about the ongoing ETA outburst.  

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario