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(meteorobs) Eta Aquarid Observations 6th May

Hello to everyone.

As it turned our our observing group was able to observe the maximum of the Eta Aquarid stream.  After about 1.5 hours of driving
around parts of Eastern Victoria we finally found a site sufficiently elevated to beat the low level cloud and fog in the area on
the night.

We set up for a 2.30 local time start.  We were able to get in 2 hours each (3 observers) until we were fogged out.  I was then
able to observe for 0.5 hours from my home before twilight as it had cleared up there when I returned home.

I know of other observers who were out on the night but thus far only one has sent me his observations.  A total of 8.5 hrs has
been sent in so far and all are recorded below.  Results are varied reflecting local conditions

One other stream we observed to be active was the Sco/Sagittarius complex.  At least a few were seen from each observer.

Roger Vodicka, Geoff Carstairs and myself observed from a location called Guys Hill about 50kms E of Melbourne. David Girling
observed from Frankston, 40kms SE of Melbourne.

Observations:

Adam Marsh (MARAD)
Date      Time UT           LM        Teff     Dir      ETA    Sco/Sag     SPO     TOT
6/5/98   02.30-03.30    +6.40    0.90    NE      16            4              13         33
6/5/98   03.35-04.35    +6.40    0.76    NE      18            0                8         26
6/5/98   05.07-05.37    +6.25    0.45     E        15            -                 7         22

Geoff Carstairs (CARGE)
Date      Time UT           LM        Teff     Dir      ETA    Sco/Sag     SPO     TOT
6/5/98   02.30-03.30    +6.35    1.00    NNE     10           3               8           21
6/5/98   03.35-04.35    +6.35    0.85    NNE     13           1               3           17

Roger Vodicka (VODRO)
Date      Time UT           LM        Teff     Dir      ETA    Sco/Sag     SPO     TOT
6/5/98   02.30-03.30    +6.35    0.92    NE       14           3                6          23
6/5/98   03.35-04.35    +6.35    0.81    NE       12           0                2          14

David Girling
Date      Time UT           LM        Teff     Dir      ETA       SPO     TOT
6/5/98   02.10-03.10    +4.5      0.96     E          4              3           7
6/5/98   03.10-04.10    +4.0      0.60    NE        2              0           2
(second hour heavily affected by cloud cover and some haze)

For my own observations I calculated ZHR's of  51, 47 and 60 respectively for the three observation periods.

The two brightest and best Eta's seen were a -3 y/o meteor with a 1 sec train and a -3 y with a 4 sec train.  Alot of negative mag
etas were seen on the night.  I will post a breakup of the etas in the next post.

Until then
Adam Marsh ASV Meteor Section Asst Director.