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(meteorobs) Re: Observation Oct 18/19 1999
Interesting report Pierre. Regarding Orionid magnitudes, while I had a
dip in the profile for 3rd magnitude your were completely lacking any
2nd magnitude Orionids. That magnitude class contributed 21% of all
Orionid meteors for me. It may appear that we are biased against those
magnitude classes but they are represented in other showers and
sporadics. It also seems that I saw several more bright Orionids which
resulted in a brighter overall average magnitude.
Thanks for putting up with the clouds. All of this information is
valuable!
Bob
Pierre Martin wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Last night (Oct 18/19), I made it out to Casselman to spend the
> entire night there. Forecast was for clear and the sky indeed looked
> good. I arrived in the early evening to join a local observer (Rock
> Mallin) who was testing a new homemade digital video camera on a 16in
> scope (with fascinating results!). Once he left well before midnight,
> the moon was still very high, so I slept for a few hours to wait
> until it went down. Then I was hoping to get 3 or 4 hours of meteor
> recording. When I woke up at 2:00 (local), the moon was gone, and the
> sky obviously much more darker and all full of stars. Suddenly, an
> Orionid meteor flashed into the west, and it was time to sign on.
>
> Soon after signing on at 6:10 UT, I saw clouds unexpectedly creeping
> up from the west. They created just a minor obstruction near the end
> of my first period. I was forced to face away into other parts of the
> sky to keep the obstructions as small as possible. At the end, the
> sky got completely cloudy and forced me to hold for 45 minutes before
> things improved again. I began my second period at 7:59 UT with
> apparently clear conditions, but it turned into a complete failure.
> After 16 minutes, a cloud bank came quickly and clouded over again.
> 35 minutes later, things finally got better again! I was now debating
> whether it would be worth to continue these attempts, as dawn would
> come in a little more than an hour. I chose to try again and this
> time I had more success. Although I had to battle some variable
> clouds, it was clear enough to complete a second full hour of teff.
> In between the clouds, the sky was among the fine nights I have seen
> at Casselman with average magnitude 6.3 (from counting Perseus,
> Taurus and Pegasus triangles). The winter Milky Way and zodiacal
> light were quite easily visible.
>
> The first hour had meteor rates I would expect under the slight cloud
> cover I had, with 16 seen. The first meteor recorded was a Epsilon
> Geminid, and 2 more were seen during that hour. The Orionids produced
> 5 meteors, with a few nice bright ones (but no fireballs). The
> highlight of that hour was a magnitude +1 blue-green Orionid leaving
> a bright one second train. Another Orionid was seen on the corner of
> my eye with a magn. 0, and with a slight burst at the end. One faint
> N. Taurid was also seen, in addition to a handful of sporadics.
>
> The second (failed) period of 16 minutes had more interesting
> meteors. In fact, this "unofficial" period had (of course) the
> highlight-of-the-night...a magnitude -1 Orionid with one second
> train. Another neat one was a one degree long magn. +1 Orionid close
> to the radiant, appearing bluish and leaving a short but bright 2
> second train.
>
> For the last (full hour teff) until dawn, the Orionids were really
> productive with 16 meteors seen despite some clouds (sometimes 5% to
> 15% of my FOV). Many ORI were now faint, with quite a few as magn. +3
> (as opposed to Bob's report). One more highlight was a magnitude -1
> sporadic low in the south-west moving slowly into a cloud. I suspect
> its zenithal magnitude would have been around -3 or so. The S.
> Taurids, Epsilon Geminids and Oct. Delta Aurigids were weakly active.
> The NTA were not seen this hour. Sporadics continued with the same
> activity. While I was on a break near 9:31 UT (and casualy watching),
> I may have seen a possible Leo Minorid.
>
> At the end, my aluminium survival tarp on top of my sleeping bag and
> heavy winter gear was completely covered with a thick layer of frost,
> and the wind made it feel quite icy cold (-6C temp.). Overall, this
> was quite an enjoyable night despite the annoying clouds. A total of
> 44 were seen (without counting all those seen "unofficially".). I was
> not plotting all meteors so I would not miss as much activity. I'm
> hoping maybe for clear skies on the 20/21 night, but all the rest of
> the week here has a poor weather outlook.
>
> Full report and plots to be mailed at NAMN.
>
>
> DATE: October 18/19 1999
> BEGIN: 6:10 UT (2:10 EDT) END: 10:10 UT (6:10 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
> ORI (Orionids) 06:10 +15
> EGE (Epsilon Geminids) 06:45 +27
> NTA (north Taurids) 02:17 +14
> STA (south Taurids) 02:30 +10
> DAO (Oct. Delta Aurigids) 06:40 +49
> LMI (Leo minorids) 10:17 +38
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
>
> PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff F LM SPO ORI EGE STA NTA DAO
> 6:10-7:15 SE70 1.01 1.03 6.30 7 5 3 0 1 0
> 8:49-10:10 S70 1.02 1.08 6.30 8 16 1 2 0 1
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> TOTALS: 2.03 15 21 4 2 1 1 = 44
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
>
> SHOWER -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 AVERAGE
>
> SPO 1 0 0 1 3 4 5 1 +3.8
> ORI 0 1 2 0 9 4 5 0 +3.3
> EGE 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 +4.0
> STA 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 +4.0
> NTA 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 +5.0
> DAO 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 +1.0
> --------------------------------------------
> TOTALS: 1 1 3 2 12 11 13 1
> --------------------------------------------
>
> SKY OBSCURED:
>
> 5% from 6:48 to 7:15
> 5% from 8:49 to 9:00
> 5% from 9:17 to 9:35
> 15% from 9:35 to 9:45
> 10% from 9:45 to 9:50
> 5% from 9:50 to 9:55
> ------------------------
>
> Total dead time: 22.48 minutes (plotting time, breaks)
> Dead time plots: 15 plots --> total time plotting: 6.65 minutes
> Breaks: 7:15-8:49, 9:20-9:35, 9:56 (20sec), 10:01 (30sec)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> REMARKS
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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