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(meteorobs) Re: NWM 98May2/3 Eta Aqr faint
Finally got a night worthwhile to go out of town for observing. It's been
mostly hazy and misty since mid-April, fairly typical for early spring.
1998 May 2/3 I observed 224 - 548 EDT (624 - 848 UT) for 3:24 hours seeing
44 meteors. These comprised 17 Eta Aquarids, 3 Mu Virginids, 1 Alpha
Scorpiid, and 22 sporadics. I was also watching for Phi Bootids, Alpha
Bootids, Sigma Leonids, and Sagittariids (IMO) but saw nothing from any of
these. (Alpha Scorpiids were good in the early 1980's -- twice I saw 5/hr
and had a number of other hours at a rate of 3 -- but in more recent years
they haven't done much.) The sky was rather bright in my west at the start,
holding the south to LM6.5, but it improved rapidly after half an hour. I
then went to LM6.8, and on to LM7.0 the final two hours.
Eta Aquarid rates for the 3 full hours 226 - 526 EDT (626 - 926 UT) were
1,3,10. (Total rates 13,12,13 -- I was pleased.) There were 2 more Etas
before dawn ended LM7.0 sky at 542, then I watched 6 more minutes seeing
just one additional Eta so I quit. This was the faintest Eta display I've
seen, averaging only 3.25m for 16 of them in dark sky. The first Eta came
at 325 EDT with the radiant, as usual, about 10 degrees up; an intense
orange +1m going 30 degrees in 2 seconds leaving an orange train for 2
seconds. There were two +4m's, five +5m's, and one +6m pulling the average
magnitude down to unusually faint levels. The best of the faint ones was an
orange +4m Eta with 2-second train. Orange is the only color I can pick up
at mag +4. There were no fireballs; best Eta was a yellow -1m with a
half-second train.
The best sporadic was a slow 0m with the unusual color green-blue. Another
good one was a slow yellow 0m overhead going 20 degrees in 2 seconds, a
disqualified Alpha Scorpiid because it missed the radiant by 10 degrees,
plus the path length was a bit long for a radiant halfway up.
It was a pleasantly cool morning just below 60oF, our last licks at
comfortable nights with summer not far off. Then we won't go below 73oF for
about 5 months with plenty of mosquitoes. The next couple of nights look
all right for more observing. May 6 is typically the Eta Aquarid maximum.
May 3 in 1981 was the best Eta morning with a record 20 seen in one hour,
but since then the max has usually been May 6.
Norman