[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Re: NWM2000May6/7 EtaAquarids normal
The night of 2000 May 6/7 was shortened somewhat by clouds but the most
critical hour was satisfactory. I observed 350 - 532 EDT (750 - 932 UT) in
sky LM7.3 recording 26 meteors in 1:42 hours. Showers seen were 18 Eta
Aquarids, 1 Mu Virginid, 1 Alpha Bootid, 1 Phi Bootid, and 5 sporadics.
Very low sporadic rates have settled in, typical as May gets underway. I
find April and May to be the worst months for sporadics.
The regular hour 426 - 526 EDT (826 - 926 UT) had 13 Eta Aquarids, 1 Alpha
Bootid, and 2 sporadics with clouds 10%. It looks like a typical Eta
maximum period. Eta magnitudes +2 to +5 have numbers 5,4,7,1 ; total 17,
average 3.23. The last Eta seen as I was ready to quit was a yellow -2m
just inside the edge of a cumulus cloud, so I have excluded it from the
magnitude table -- there was surely a train but I was out of luck for that.
Twilight begins about 540 EDT.
Waiting for the sky to clear on arrival gave me a short initial period 350 -
426 EDT (750 - 826 UT) with 3 Eta Aquarids, 1 Mu Virginid, 1 Phi Bootid,
and 3 sporadics. This was the second night in a row with a Phi Bootid
(radiant from Cook's list 240, +51, vel 12 km/s, max May 1).
They are very slow and conspicuous : the Phi this night was +3m going only
20 degrees in 3 full seconds. The first Eta came at 358 EDT.
There haven't been enough Eta Lyrids at this location to get my attention.
5/hour coming from one spot would blow me away without even plotting. I
noticed the June Lyrids in 1969 in that fashion.
Monitoring the rates from Mike Linnolt all this year, I note that he is
seeing fully twice what I would expect in almost every case. That would
account for his high Eta Aquarid rate from May 6. I would have seen about
15 under the same conditions that he saw around 30. His consistency is
excellent. Hawaii has an advantage over Florida for the Etas of about 20%.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
Follow-Ups: