(meteorobs) Observation August 12/13 2015

[Pierre Martin]

Hi everyone!

I finally found some time to write down my summer reports. Better late than never!

After taking a hiatus (life having been busy and a bit hectic), it was nice to get out meteor observing again.  In August, I enjoyed three beautiful and memorable nights!  I was determined not to miss this year's Perseids peak night.  My enthusiasm was fueled by the prospects of moonless observing conditions, the broad peak scheduled to occur over North American longitudes, and the possibility of elevated rates this year (as was forecasted by Vaubaillon and Maslov).  The weather was the only wild card.  As is often the case, the Ottawa area can be challenged by a variety of weather effects.  This time, it was a large low-pressure system stalling up north-east in Quebec, but its outlying clouds were wide and thick enough to blanket most of the Ottawa area.  Despite the grim outlook, the model forecasts showed a more promising clear, dry airmass to the west/south-west (towards Georgian Bay/Lake Ontario).  On the afternoon of the 12th, Raymond Dubois, Shane Finnigan and I decided to go for it!  We packed camping, observing and photo gear all into Raymond's vehicle and off we went!

We drove four hours (across Renfrew and Bancroft) and finally, the sky started to gradually look more promising.  The sun was getting low, and we searched for a place to go to for the night.  We took another glance at the map and made a decision… Balsam Provincial Park on the Kawartha Lakes!  We hoped that this would put us more deeply into the dry airmass.  This would prove to be a good choice!  As we pulled into the Park entrance, the sky was crystal clear with a deep shade of blue!  At the front office, the friendly park staff made a few suggestions for spots with an open view of the night sky.  After briefly looking around, we opted to setup on a grassy patch among the large wide-open parking lot, just steps away from a large beach.  We took our time setting up cameras and mounts, as the sky grew darker, making sure that everything was working well.  Several campers came by to watch for meteors down at the beach.  Already, meteors were flying left and right…BRIGHT ones too!!  The public was suitably impressed (several loud “whoaooohs”).  The only nuisance were the cars moving in and out with bright headlights and people walking around, swinging flashlights.  But this did not last too long; thankfully.  The night was otherwise very quiet and dark.

Oh and… what a night!!!  As mentioned earlier, the Perseids were clearly very active, and it looked to me like they were somewhere near full tilt!  I saw several (around 20 or 30) nice long meteors, by just quick glances looking up.  Among those was a mag -4 blue-green beauty to the north that left a thick train persisting for several seconds!  Luckily, one of my cameras was aimed and exposing in the right direction!!  Shane had the lightest and most mobile setup, so he went down by the shore to enjoy the view there a bit before coming back to join us.  I signed on for formal observing at midnight and I stayed on till 5am (taking a few breaks to stretch my legs and attend my cameras).  The sky was impressive with clear, transparent air most of the night.  The exception was a period of thin cloud cover that moved in around 1am EDT, lasted about half an hour, and then moved away.  The Milky Way was beautiful with mag 6.6 stars at the zenith - a great backdrop to a really active shower!  The hour with strongest meteor activity (2:40-3:40am) had 110 meteors (of which 93 were Perseids).  This seems to correspond quite well with predictions for the peak time as well as the IMO’s results.  The night had many bright and interesting meteors.  The most spectacular was a dazzling -6 PER fireball just after 1:00am high up in the south that shot 50 degrees, with terminal flash and a train persisting for about 30 seconds!  But to me, the most beautiful meteor was an earthgrazing -2 CAP that persisted for several seconds over 60 degrees!!  Through the night, I noted 19 instances of two and sometimes even three PER’s seen nearly simultaneously.  Also interesting was the appearance of “worm meteors” (that is a term to describe a relatively dim meteor without a visible “head” but with a notable wake - giving the appearance of a “worm stretching" into the sky).  I have only seen these types of meteors during the Perseids and on certain years.

In over four hours of formal observing, I counted 371 meteors (309 Perseids, 13 S.Delta Aquariids, 6 anthelions, 5 Capricornids, 4 Eridanids, 4 Beta Perseids, 3 Kappa Cygnids, 1 Theta Piscid and 26 sporadics).

As for the photography, this was my most successful meteor shower night in capturing meteors!  I’ll share those results in a separate message.

It was great to share this night with Raymond and Shane.  The good company along with one of the better Perseids displays that I have seen in recent years made this road trip a most memorable one.  My IMO report (PER only) can also be found here: http://vmo.imo.net/imozhr/obsview/view.php?id=15694



August 12/13 2015, 04:00-09:00 UT (00:00-05:00 EDT)
Location: Balsam Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada 
(Long: -78 deg 51’ 27"; Lat: 44 deg 37’ 32")

Observed showers:
Kappa Cygnids (KCG) - 18:28 (277) +48 
Perseids (PER) - 02:48 (042) +57
Alpha Capricornids (CAP) - 20:48 (312) -07
Anthelions (ANT) - 21:56 (329) -10
Theta Piscids (TPI) - 22:48 (342) +01
Delta Aquariids (SDA) - 23:20 (350) -13
Piscids Austrinids (PAU) - 23:28 (352) -28
Eta Eridanids (ERI) - 02:52 (043) -11
Beta Perseids (BPE) - 03:08 (047) +37


Period 1: 04:00-05:00 UT; 20% clouds from 4:45-5:00; 4/5 trans; F 1.05; LM 6.53; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: fifty-five: -3; -2(2); -1(2); 0(5); +1(10); +2(15); +3(7); +4(10); +5(3)
SDA: three: +1; +2; +3
CAP: two: +3; +4
Sporadics: five: +2(2); +3; +5(2)
Total meteors: sixty-five

Period 2: 05:00-06:01 UT; 10% clouds from 5:00-5:10; 4/5 trans; F 1.02; LM 6.58; facing E50 deg; teff 1.01 hr
PER: seventy-one: -6; -3; -1(3); 0(6); +1(6); +2(14); +3(17); +4(12); +5(11)
SDA: five: -1; +4(2); +5(2)
ANT: three: +3; +4; +5
KCG: two: +2; +3
CAP: two: +2(2)
BPE: one: +3
Sporadics: five: +2(3); +4; +5
Total meteors: eighty-nine

(Break from 06:01-06:40 UT)

Period 3: 06:40-07:40 UT; clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.60; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: ninety-three: -3; -2; -1(4); 0(6); +1(15); +2(15); +3(21); +4(18); +5(12)
SDA: four: +1; +2; +3; +4
ANT: two: 0; +4
ERI: two: +3; +4
BPE: one: +2
Sporadics: eight: +3(2); +4(4); +5(2)
Total meteors: one-hundred-ten

Period 4: 07:40-08:43 UT; clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.51; facing E50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: seventy-one: -3; -1(3); 0(2); +1(7); +2(14); +3(12); +4(20); +5(12)
BPE: two: +4(2)
KCG: one: -1
ANT: one: +3
TPI: one: +4
SDA: one: +5
ERI: one: +2
Sporadics: five: 0: +1(2); +4; +5
Total meteors: eighty-three

Period 5: 08:43-09:00 UT, clear, 4/5 trans; F 1.00, LM 6.06; facing E80, teff 0.28 hr
PER: nineteen: -2; -1(3); +1(4); +2(2); +3(3); +4(5); +5
CAP: one: -2
ERI: one: +3
Sporadics: three: +1; +2; +4
Total meteors: twenty-four


Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario