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(meteorobs) Observation Aug 6/7 1999
After my Perseids talk at the Ottawa Center RASC meeting on Friday
evening (August 6/7), I went directly to Casselman to observe 4 hours
teff. Skies were very clear, but temperature was quite cool with
heavy dew. This time, I had the company of other observers who had
brought their scopes and binoculars. I began observing at midnight
and finished off just as dawn was beginning. My limiting magnitude
began at 6.4 and gradually went down later on as the crescent moon
rose higher in the east.
Meteor activity was quite decent with some spectacular meteors and
several highlights. Just as I signed on, the very first meteor was a
slow moving magnitude -4 sporadic. It had a duration of a few seconds
and showed a yellow-white color. Later on, at 5:56 UT, one the most
dramatic fireball I've seen suddenly caught my attention in the
north, below Ursa Minor. A gorgeous magnitude -6 very slow moving
Kappa Cygnid fireball crawled on 18 degrees path. It flared up
gradually, produced a burst halfway, and finally fragmented into 2 or
3 pieces of sparks near the end of its path. The whole event lasted 5
long seconds and was easily witnessed by all. Although the plot
indicates a definite KCG, there might also be the possibility of a
CAP coming a long way.
A total of 95 meteors were seen. I was only plotting any possible
minor shower members. The Perseids were quite active, and obviously
above the sporadic level. The third hour was especially active with
18 Perseids seen. One of them was a bright magnitude -3 that flared
twice, leaving behind two segments of train lasting for 7 seconds.
There were two instances of twin PER (in different areas) appearing 1
or 2 seconds apart. Also interesting was a faint magnitude +4 PER
that left behind quite an obvious wake. I almost felt the wake was
brighter than the meteor itself! Sporadics began with low numbers,
but appeared 13 times during the third hour. Activity was also
present in small numbers from the S. and N. Delta Aquarids, Alpha
Capricornids, S. Iota Aquarids and Kappa Cygnids. Nothing was seen
from PAU and SIG. Under increasing twilight, all the cows came out
into our area, and it was time to sign off. Great night!
DATE: August 6/7 1999
BEGIN: 4:05 UT (00:05 EDT) END: 8:20 UT (4:20 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -75.063 West; Lat: 45.269 North Elevation:100m
City & Province: Casselman, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: 3-letter code; radiant position
PER (Perseids) 02h40 +57
KCY (Kappa Cygnids) 18h40 +56
SIG (Sigma Capricornids (anthelion) 22h16 -12
NDA (N. Delta Aquarids) 22h06 -07
SDA (S. Delta Aquarids) 23h06 -14
SIA (S. Iota Aquarids) 22h15 -16
CAP (Alpha Capricornids) 20h45 -08
PAU (Pisces Austrinids) 23h16 -28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff F LM SPO PER SDA CAP NDA SIA KCG
4:05-5:07 E60 1.01 1.00 6.40 8 5 1 0 0 1 0
5:07-6:09 " 1.00 1.00 6.40 5 14 1 1 0 0 1
6:09-7:12 E70 1.00 1.00 6.35 13 18 1 2 1 0 0
7:12-8:20 E80 1.00 1.00 6.16 11 12 0 0 0 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 4.01 37 49 3 3 1 1 1 = 95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 AVERAGE
SPO 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 4 10 8 12 0 +3.4
PER 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 7 13 12 11 2 +3.3
SDA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 +3.6
CAP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 +4.3
NDA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 +4.0
SIA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 +5.0
KCG 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -6.0
----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 1 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 11 25 23 26 2
----------------------------------------------------------
SKY OBSCURED: none
------------------
Total dead time: 15.06 minutes (plotting time, breaks)
Dead time plots: 14 plots --> total time plotting: 9.56 minutes
Breaks: 7:43-7:46, 7:55-7:57, 8:13 (0.5 min)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
REMARKS
Meteor #1 SPO fireball, report to FIDAC
Meteor #35 magn -6 KCG fireball, dur 4-5 sec, flaring, fragmentation
of 2-3 pieces near end path, very slow, poss CAP?, report to FIDAC
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