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(meteorobs) eta Aquarids May 13
Hi everyone
My last message took 3 days to return, so I don't know how fresh this will
be when you read it. The eta Aqs are on the decline, I'll continue for a
few more days to monitor the decline. That is if I can stay alert. I'm
looking after the kids again. My wife has flown off to London again (she
buried her father two months ago) since her mother is critical. She had a
five hour heart op last night and her chances are less than 50/50. So with
a full time job, kids to look after and meteors to observe, things might get
a bit tight here. Sorry to bore you with my personal details.
For what its worth here is my list to date. I think you know the
abbreviations by now.
Date UT LM ETA CAP SCO SPO
April 27 0140-0240 5.2 0 2 0 6
April 27 0240-0330 5.4 4 1 0 5
April 28 0135-0235 5.4 0 1 0 7
April 28 0235-0335 5.5 2 0 0 7
April 29 0132-0235 5.3 2 2 1 5
April 29 0235-0335 5.4 5 2 1 5
April 30 0133-0233 5.0 2 1 0 7
April 30 0233-0333 5.1 3 1 3 5
May 1 0134-0234 5.4 1 0 0 5
May 1 0234-0334 5.4 5 0 0 6
May 2 0134-0234 5.6 4 3 0 4
May 2 0234-0334 5.6 4 5 0 10
May 3 0136-0236 5.6 5 2 0 7
May 3 0236-0336 5.7 8 3 0 12
May 4 0100-0200 5.7 13 2 0 8
May 4 0200-0300 5.8 17 6 0 15
May 5 0130-0230 5.6 21 1 0 16
May 5 0230-0330 5.7 32 3 0 12
May 6 Cloud
May 7 Cloud
May 8 Cloud
May 9 Cloud
May 10 0133-0233 5.6 17 2 0 9
May 10 0233-0335 5.7 15 2 0 13
May 11 0135-0237 5.6 11 2 1 9
May 11 0237-0337 5.8 22 3 0 14
May 12 0129-0229 6.0 7 5 0 16
May 12 0229-0329 6.0 13 1 0 12
May 13 0135-0235 5.8 7 2 0 13
May 13 0235-0337 5.8 10 1 0 10
Bill wrote:
>HI Tim, I notice that there is an increase in sporadics at the same
>time as the Aquarids increase. Interesting.
Hi Bill, I'm not sure there is too much siginificance in this fact:
1. sporadic rates later in May are holding up while the etas are dwindling.
2. the sporadic counts during late April were made under poorer LM
conditions, with the waning moon interfering. I would expect both eta rates
and sporadic rates to increase slightly as the moon moved out of the
picture, all other factors being equal.
3. early to mid May sees more minor southern showers active than late April
(see note below) and since these would have been included in the sporadic
count it explains their parallel increase, but not decrease, versus the eta
Aquarids.
Norman wrote:
>Tim Cooper has very good perception from the rates he reported. From skies
>much poorer than mine he still saw double my rates, Etas and sporadics both.
>A sporadic rate of 10 to me was a great one
Hi Norman, I would have anticipated observing much higher rates of etas. At
the time I observe, the radiant is around 30-50 degrees above the horizon.
I dug out some old IMO data on your observations, and from your observation
times I calculate the radiant as barely rising above the horizon. Is that
correct?
Regarding the sporadics, these will include any northern radiants active
during early May which you probably assign to a specific radiant as well as
several possible minor far southern radiants in Piscis Austrinus, Grus,
Centaurus, Pavo etc. During the etas I normally count etas and May
Capricornids, and bin the rest as sporadics in line with IMO protocol. I
presume if my rates differ from yours it depends on what we define as true
sporadics.
Bye for now
Tim Cooper