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(meteorobs) observation of Oct. 29/30 (Jin)
Observation of 1998 Oct. 29/30
I came to mountain by train in evening, wishing that it could be clear
so I could have some observation after midnight when the Moon set off.
It was not clear during daytime, but during my way from the railway
station to mountain in about 8 pm, it went to clear! I should take a nap
before observation, but a little exciting to meet those friends on
mountain, so after some TV-watching, we played some computer game (xblast)
till after midnight. :-(
It's still very clear, slightly breeze, and not very cold (should be much
colder for this season). I have now more confidence for recognizing the
constellations and fields for LM determination after previous two
observations, but still take a lot of time (should be done during day time)
trying to find out showers and radiant positions on map. I must miss-read
'Oct.' as 'Nov.' when I picked out those informations from Table 8.7 of
George's Guidebook, for I missed EGE but a XOR! And I gave wrong positions
for NTA, STA, XOR. Only ORI is correct for there is no line for Nov. 30.
I only realized this after I listened the tape and finished input all the
following raw data on computer. I must be too tired before I started
this morning's observation... And I'm really disappointed at this moment
for such a stupid mistake.
However, I would still keep my raw recording unchanged, which might be
useful to illustrate how much false alignments (random error) could be
happened in a real observation. I think that only the part of ORI is
a little useful, others will all be regarded as SPO when I make summary.
There were also something during my observation which I would like to
mention:
1. It seemed that there were some bright SPOs with long arc or train coming
from some area around (09:20, +25). I saw 4 between 04:10 to 04:20 (local
time in early morning), and there might be another fainter one later.
Could this be Leo Minorids mentioned on the list several days ago? Or just
random SPO background? Perhaps I need to learn ploting soon.
2. It also seemed that some short arc SPOs were from AUR, near (05:30, +45),
I saw 4 during 04:00 to 05:01.
3. A very beautiful 0 SPO with long train of 1s at 04:33, could be traced
back to LEO. Other two not faint SPOs at 04:59 might also be traced back
to LEO...
4. Exciting objects this night: a -3 fireball droped downward at 02:30 just
above the east horizon, short and slow, before I began formal observation;
at 04:02, a +1 SPO, very beautiful, from west to east, quite long and slow,
and I could clearly see the tremble of its path before it vanished; at 04:51,
a very slow +1 SPO near (05:40,+07), with less than 1-degree path! Looks like
Ir-satellite flash, but no fading part after maximum, and I think it was
a meteor.
I observed on roof of a building by telescope dome, with a sleeping chair
(we bought that some years ago and almost never use it before). There was
the roof of the dome to my east, which obscured the left horizon by about
2%. The place seems good for observation, but I need to face to south or
southwest, not to east. I took 2 minutes break in middle of observation
to adjust the chair and changed my field center to nearly zenith, in order
to note more SPOs I thought coming from LYN. I was not in best status
and might not be very concetrated during the whole observation because of
sleepy? It seemed that I could be more concetrated when I estimated LM.
I think it may equivalent to 4 minutes dead time during the observation??
In total, I observed Teff=2.07 hrs and got 11 ORIs and 48 SPOs.
Attached are summary report and raw observations.
Clear skies and good concetrations, Jin
DATE: Oct. 29/30 1998 BEGIN: 19:07 UT END: 21:15 UT
LOCATION: Long: 117:34:42 East; Lat: 40:23:47 North; Elevation: 860m
City & Province: Xinglong, Hebei, CHINA
RECORDING METHOD: Tape Recorder
OBSERVING PERIODS:
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff F LM SPO ORI
19:07-20:13 S70 1.07 1.01 5.9 18 8
20:13-21:15 Zenith 1.00 1.01 5.9 30 3
-------------------------------------------------
Totals: 2.07 48 11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 TOTAL
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 9 13 8 8 48
ORI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 3 2 11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals: 1 0 0 0 2 3 2 2 5 3 26 38 51 31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SKY OBSCURED: 2% all
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Total dead time: 4 minutes
Breaks: 20:13-20:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
STAR STAR
TIME AREA COUNT LM
19:05 Nr.4 5 4.3
19:05 Nr.8 10 5.9
19:05 Nr.17 11 5.9
19:29 Nr.4 10 5.7
19:29 Nr.8 11 6.0
19:29 Nr.17 11 5.9
20:04 Nr.4 7 5.1
20:04 Nr.8 10 5.9
20:04 Nr.17 11 5.9
20:16 Nr.17 12 6.0
20:44 Nr.17 10 5.5
20:45 Nr.8 11 6.0
20:58 Nr.8 10 5.9
20:59 Nr.4 9 5.6
21:02 Nr.17 11 5.9
21:14 Nr.4 10 5.7
21:14 Nr.8 10 5.9
21:15 Nr.17 12 6.0
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: 5.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Raw Observation Data:
Time Zone: Beijing Time (08:00 here = UT 00:00)
02:30 -3, FIREBALL, drop above east horizon, slow
03:05 LM: 4/5, 8/10, 17/11
meteors during this period: 2-3
03:07 begin
Field Center: RA=05:40, Dec=+20.
Field covered 2% by dome (during whole period)
ORI: 06:39, +17.
NTA: 04:50, +23. --> should be 03:20, +20.
STA: 04:40, +18. --> should be 03:08, +13.
XOR: 05:20, +23. wrong position!
03:09 +5 ORI?
03:12 +3 SPO
03:17 +1 SPO
03:20 +2 STA?
03:22 +4 ORI
03:22 +1 STA
03:23 +3 SPO
03:26 Field center: 05:50, +08.
03:29 LM: 8/11, 4/10, 17/11
03:34 +2 STA
03:34 +3 ORI
03:35 +2 SPO very fast
03:37 +2 ORI
03:39 +3 ORI short
03:49 +5 SPO (or ORI)
03:55 +1 ORI 0.5s-train
04:00 +5 SPO [from AUR]
04:01 +4 ORI
04:01 +5 SPO (or STA)
04:02 +1 SPO, beautiful, west to east, tremble
04:02 +1 SPO 1s-train
04:03 +2 SPO
04:04 +3 ORI
04:04 LM: 8/10, 17/11, 4/7
04:07 +2 SPO fast
04:09 +5 SPO
04:10 +2 STA (or SPO)
04:11 +1 SPO very long train [from around LYN]
04:13 +2 SPO train [from around LYN]
04:13 Field center: zenith
0413-0415 break (adjust sleeping chair)
04:16 LM: 17/12
04:17 +2 SPO [from around LYN]
04:19 +3 SPO [from around LYN]
04:20 +4 SPO
04:22 +4 SPO fast
04:26 +3 SPO or STA
04:31 sleepy...
04:32 +1 SPO long
04:33 0 SPO (LEO?), long arc, beautiful, long train 1s
04:35 +3 SPO [from AUR]
04:38 airplane in west horizon
04:38 +5 SPO short [from AUR]
04:39 +3 NTA
04:40 +3 SPO weak-train
04:40 +3 NTA weak-train
04:41 +3 SPO
04:42 +2 ORI fast, train
04:42 +3 SPO fast, train
04:44 LM: 17/10
04:45 +5 XOR or SPO
04:45 +3 SPO
04:45 LM: 8/11
04:46 +4 SPO
04:46 +4 SPO or ORI
04:48 +5 ORI
04:50 +4 SPO
04:51 +4 ORI
04:51 +1 XOR? near (05:40,+07), very slow, very short (1-degree), tremble?
04:52 +1 SPO train
04:56 +5 SPO
04:58 LM: 8/10
04:59 LM: 4/9
04:59 +4 SPO fast
04:59 +2 SPO (LEO?)
04:59 +3 SPO (LEO?)
05:01 +4 SPO [from AUR)
05:02 LM: 17/11
05:06 +5 SPO
05:06 +3 SPO (LEO?)
05:06 +4 SPO
05:13 +0 SPO
05:14 LM: 4/10, 8/10
05:15 LM: 17/12
05:15 end