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(meteorobs) Observation May 20/21 2001
On Sunday evening May 20, I joined Denis Legault, Rock Mallin, Eric
Brown and Yves Paris for some dark sky observing at Foymount to take
advantage of the long weekend. I carpooled with Yves since I had only
my meteor observing gear. By the time we got to Foymount after 6pm,
we were greeted by Rock who led us to the new site. A few evening
clouds soon dissipated as the sun went down. Later on, Denis and Eric
arrived. We also had a few locals stopping by for some good company.
Rock had his 16" dob, Denis with his new 14" dob, Yves with 7"
Maksutov, Eric with 9 1/4" SCT on a solid G11 losmandy, and I had my
lawn chair and sleeping bag. After feasting my eyes with a variety of
fantastic deep sky views in the big scopes, I settled for almost 3
hours of meteor observing.
The sky was pristine, and the new spot where we setup is definitely
superior to the others we used in the past couple years. Red lights
from antennas no longer an issue - they're now much further away from
us. The spot is a bit uneven, but more space to setup, and also more
handy for people wishing to bring tents to camp and sleep overnight
there. By looking for the faintest stars around Ursa minor, I was
able to glimpse a 6.8 magn. One triangle count showed 6.65 magn,
while a second triangle further to the east near Lyra had 6.80 magn.
All together for the best hours, my average LM was 6.75. I suspect
that because I was wearing my glasses this time (not my contact
lens), I could not see any deeper. Some occasional haze/low cloud
moved low in the south but not enough to cause obstructions. It was
neat to see a few clouds silouetted against the bright glow of the
southern Milky Way late at night. Light winds for most of the night
from the south-east. In the distance, I could hear the croaking from
the frogs down at the lake, and an occasional owl. Very enjoyable.
Meteor activity kept me busy plotting during the first hour with 9
sporadics. The second hour had just five meteors, but the third hour
had eight. Only one Scorpiid (Sagittarid) was seen. I also saw a
swift moving north apex meteor.
At about 11pm, saw an impressive magn -7 iridium flare.
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: May 20/21 2001
BEGIN: 3:50 UT (23:50 EDT) END: 7:00 UT (3:00 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77.304 West; Lat: 45.431 North Elevation: 1800ft
City & Province: Foymount, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: 3-letter code; radiant position
SCO (Alpha Scorpiids - IMO Sagittarids) 16h50 -22
ETA (Eta Aquarids) 23h05 +04
WCA (May Capricornids) 21h00 -21
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff F LM SPO SCO napx
3:50-4:51 15h25 +15 1.00 1.00 6.72 9 0 0
4:51-6:01 16h25 +14 1.01 " 6.75 5 0 0
6:01-7:00 17h14 +14 0.76 " 6.75 6 1 1
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 2.77 20 1 1 = 22
------------------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHOWER +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 AVERAGE
SPO 2 3 7 5 3 1 +3.5
SCO 0 0 1 0 0 0 +3.0
-----------------------------
TOTALS: 2 3 8 5 3 1
-----------------------------
SKY OBSCURED:
None
------------------------
Dead time: 23.32 min (total), 2.82 min (plots)
Breaks: 5:18-5:21, 5:22-5:28, 6:08-6:19, 6:22 (30sec)
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