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(meteorobs) July 20/21 1998 observation
Hello,
Last Monday eve., July 20/21 was very clear so I drove to my new dark
site south-east of Ottawa (ON) to observe the whole night. As I arrived,
another observer was already there, all set up with his 7" Maksutov.
It was a very pleasant night to go out...no mosquitoes, mild
temperature and good skies. Some thin haze did develop in the early
morning and reduced my limiting magnitude. It was very quiet with the
wind calm. There is a few BIG crickets there, judging by the sound. The
cows were not too far below us but they remained quiet and the odour
was tolerable.
I observed a total 3.43 teff (about 3.5 actual hours observing).
My watch was occasionally interupted to manipulate my camera
for a few piggyback shots using 50mmf/2, T-max 400. I might
have caught a medium speed +2 SPO that passed right beside M31?
I also took a few minutes of break to enjoy the great views of the
planets through my friend's fine scope.
I faced South-east, 60 degrees up most of the time to try and catch
the southern complex and also concentrate for possible Alpha Cygnids.
Meteor activity was quite good with my best hour producing 17 meteors.
Sporadics are still by far, the most active for now with 32 seen.
Perseids were active with 7 seen. Alpha Cygnids produced only 2.
I also saw 2 meteors coming from the Sigma Capricornid radiant
(those could be possible N. Delta Aquarids since both radiants are
very close). No meteors from S. Delta Aquarids and Alpha Caps were
seen. One very fast meteor aligned with the July Pegasids radiant.
Are the JPE still going at this time? I classified it as SPO for now.
Another sporadic could be a possible Lambda Sagittarid.
Most meteors were magnitudes +4 and +5. A lot of them short streaks.
The highlight of the night was a very short, almost point radiant
-3 fireball that flashed on top of Deneb and left a wake. It lasted
only a fraction of second but was quite nice! I checked the plot later,
and it classifies well as an Alpha Cygnid.
Earlier in the evening before I signed on, I saw 2 possible Alpha
Cygnids back to back almost simultaneously!
In all, it was enjoyable. A darker sky DOES make a difference. Clouds
and heat is back again for a few days. I'll go out later this week if
the weather improves.
DATE: July 20/21 1998 BEGIN: 2:55 UT END: 7:20 UT
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North Elevation: 150m
City & Province: Casselman, Ontario, CAN
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff F LM SPO PER ACY SPC
2:55-3:44 SE60d 0.81 1.00 6.25 7 1 0 0
4:13-5:36 " 1.25 " 6.30 9 1 1 2
5:43-6:43 " 0.89 " 6.10 12 4 1 0
6:48-7:20 " 0.48 " 5.90 4 1 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------
Totals: 3.43 32 7 2 2 = 43
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 11 11 2
PER 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 2 0
ACY 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
SPC 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------------
Totals: 1 0 0 0 0 4 9 13 14 2
Total dead time: 18.5 min
Breaks: 3:44-4:13 , 5:36-5:43 , 6:43-6:48
. . . .
Pierre Martin . . * . * . .
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Ottawa Valley Observers Group . . . . . .
Visual meteor observer . . . . -* .
Ottawa, Ontario, CAN . . . . .
home: p.martin@cyberusdot ca / . . . .
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Graphic Designer . | .
National Aviation Museum | \
work: pmartin@nmstcdot ca * . \
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