(meteorobs) Observation October 21/22 2014

[Pierre Martin]

I enjoyed two wonderful nights of observing last week, near the Orionids peak.  

Although the Orionids performed more weakly this year, I was not disappointed by the two beautiful clear nights.  For the first night, I picked up Shane in mid-evening, we loaded equipment in my car, and we drove to the cottage in Otter Lake (north of Shawville).  Aero the dog (a cute Dachshund-Lab-Husky mix) came along for the ride.  When we left, skies were 100% overcast, but it was nearly completely clear at the cottage, just as the Clear Sky Chart had predicted.

Shane and I spent a good part of the evening casually admiring the view from the top level balcony, affording an open view of the night sky, with the Summer constellations in the west and the bright stars of Orion rising in the east.  I enjoyed immensely the stillness and silence of this night.  It was in fact so still that we could hear the very distant howls of coyotes (or possibly wolves) at the threshold of hearing.  Occasionally, a light breeze would stir up the leaves and branches of the forest surrounding us.

I signed-on and observed meteors formally for 5 hours (effective time) from just after 1am and lasted until 6:30am, stopping only for one 20 min and one 5 min break.  Shane was running a camera on tripod to try and capture some meteors, and later on, the Zodiacal Light.  It was the kind of night that went by fast.  With clear skies, a limiting magnitude reaching 6.5, and a zenith filled with dim stars, I saw a total of 88 meteors (41 Orionids, 9 S.Taurids, 7 Leo Minorids, 5 Epsilon Geminids and 26 sporadics).  The highlight of the night was without a doubt the amazing earthgrazing Leo Minorid that appeared at 2:09am… it shot 60 degrees long, going from Gemini all the way to Cetus… changing colors from orange to blue to green, peaking at mag -1 and leaving a 5 sec train!  A close second highlight just before 5am was a short but bright mag -4 Orionid fireball that left a persistent train visible as a small “cloud" through the treeline for 30 seconds!!  I went for my binoculars to get a closer look at the train but I was a bit too late and lost sight of it.

At 6:30am, we packed it in and both enjoyed a very comfortable morning sleep in the warm cottage.  It was great heaving Aero along as well, a well-behaved, calm and very pleasant little guy.


October 21/22 2014, 05:10-10:30 UT (01:10-06:30 EDT)
Location: Otter Lake, Quebec, Canada 
(Long: -76 deg 22'; Lat: 45 deg 48')

Observed showers:
Southern Taurids (STA) - 02:36 (039) +12
Orionids (ORI) - 06:16 (094) +16
Epsilon Geminids (EGE) - 06:58 (105) +28
Oct. Lyncids (OLY) - 07:20 (110) +53
Tau Cancrids (TCA) - 09:04 (136) +30
Leonis Minorids (LMI) - 10:28 (157) +37


Period 1: 05:10-06:10 UT; a few cirrus; temp 5C, F 1.08; LM 6.43; facing SEE60 deg; teff 1.00 hr
ORI: seven: +1; +2; +3(2); +5(3)
STA: five: +3(2); +4; +5(2)
EGE: one: +3
LMI: one: -1
Sporadics: three: -1; +3; +4
Total meteors: seventeen

Period 2: 06:10-07:10 UT; clear; temp 4C, F 1.00; LM 6.48; facing SEE60 deg; teff 0.99 hr
ORI: seven: 0; +1; +3(3); +3; +4
STA: three: +1; +3; +5
EGE: one: +1
Sporadics: six: +2(3); +3; +5(2)
Total meteors: seventeen

Period 3: 07:10-08:05 UT; clear; temp 2C, F 1.00; LM 6.50; facing SEE60 deg; teff 0.92 hr
ORI: six: +1; +3(2); +4; +5(2)
EGE: three: +1; +2; +4
STA: one: +1
Sporadics: six: +2; +3; +5(4)
Total meteors: sixteen

Period 4: 08:25-09:30 UT; clear; temp 1C, F 1.00; LM 6.50; facing SE60 deg; teff 1.00 hr
ORI: eleven: -4; -1; +3(4); +4(2); +5(3)
LMI: three: +3; +4; +5
Sporadics: nine: +3(3); +4(4); +5(2)
Total meteors: twenty-three

Period 5: 09:30-10:30 UT; clear; temp 1C, F 1.00; LM 6.14; facing SE60 deg; teff 1.00 hr
ORI: ten: +1(2); +2(2); +3; +4(4); +5
LMI: three: 0; +1; +3
Sporadics: two: +4(2)
Total meteors: fifteen


Clear skies,
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario