[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Observations of 14/15 October 1999
Hi Again List Members
Managed to get out again last Thursday night, this will be the seventh time
this month, not bad for October at least for cloudy old England. Admittedly
the conditions are not brilliant with a LM of about 5.1 but we have to take
what we can get. One of these days I'll have to take a trek up into the
Cotswolds proper and see what the conditions are like a few miles from
civilization but for now the back garden is convenient.
The session started off with an unusual magnitude 1 meteor which had a
three peaked light curve terminating in a +1 terminal burst (if +1 can be
called a burst) and it was very slow. Also in the session there was a
meteor which appeared to have a 'wobbly' path, is this possible (perhaps a
very elongated grain tumbling end over end)?
It's tough that the Orionids are 'mooned' out this year, last year they
were quite good but it looks like the Taurids are making an entrance early,
I have seen a couple so far and this is the earliest I can recall seeing
certain Taurids (30 days before maximum)!
Oh, one other thing I read with interest the fireball reports in a recent
MeteorObs Digest and noticed that a lot of the reported fireballs were less
than -5 magnitude, I thought this was the minimum magnitude for reporting
to FIDAC. If this is not true can anyone enlighten me as to what is the
minimum magnitude, or what the criteria are?
Anyway here is my report, late as I was at a wedding reception last night,
for the 14/15 October 1999.
DATE: 14/15 October 1999 BEGIN: 20:25 UT END: 22:32 UT
OBSERVER: D. M. Swain
LOCATION: Long: 1d 56' 20" West; Lat: 51d 42' 12" North
City & State: Cirencester, GLOS, England Elevation: 110 metres
RECORDING METHOD: Manual/Plotting:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
OBSERVED SHOWERS: (Use 3 letter Codes)
SPO
NTA
STA
AND
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
OBSERVING PERIODS:
(On average, 10 sec/meteor should be subtracted for recording purposes.)
0 = None seen; / = shower not watched.
PERIOD(UT) FIELD LM --- NTA STA AND SPO
20:25-21:30UT 02h +42 +5.0 000 000 000 007
21:30-22:32UT 03h +41 +5.1 001 000 000 007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 TOTAL
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 2 6 0 0 014
AND 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 000
NTA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 001
STA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKY OBSCURED:
__0__% FROM: 20:25 UT __0__% FROM: 21:30 UT
TO: 21:30 UT TO: 22:32 UT
_____% FROM: UT _____% FROM: UT
TO: UT TO: UT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEAD TIME: 09.0m
BREAKS: None
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
STAR STAR
TIME AREA COUNT LM
20:40 18 09 5.04
21:40 02 06 5.15
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: +5.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
METEOR DATA:
SPEED
# TIME(UT) SHOWER MAG (1-5) COLOR TRAIN(SEC) MAP #* ACCURACY*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 20:30 SPO +1 1 W -
2 20:45 SPO +4 3 - -
3 20:48 SPO +2 4 - -
4 20:58 SPO +4 4 - -
5 21:01 SPO +2 3 - -
6 21:14 SPO 0 2 W 2
7 21:23 SPO +4 2 - -
8 21:33 SPO +3 5 - -
9 21:46 SPO +3 3 - -
10 21:50 SPO +4 4 - -
11 22:00 SPO +4 2 - -
12 22:08 SPO +2 4 - -
13 22:12 SPO +2 4 - -
14 22:19 SPO 0 4 W -
15 22:29 NTA 0 2 OR -
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE:
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast
NOTE: The astericks (*) above indicate for plotting use only. If you
are counting, ignore these categories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:
Air very still with slight haze present all of the time, hence the low
limiting magnitude. Pervasive local light pollution with low pressure
Sodium lighting. (W = WHITE AND OR = ORANGE)
METEOR 1 - VERY SLOW WITH MULTIPLE LIGHT PEAKS (3)
METEOR 6 - SLOW WITH APPARENTLY WOBBLY TRAIN (IS THIS POSSIBLE)?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
Follow-Ups: