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(meteorobs) Observation June 15/16 2001



For the predicted peak night of the June Lyrids on the 15/16, I 
observed at Casselman for 3 hours teff after midnight. The sky was 
very hazy due to smog and humidity. I believe the night reached a low 
of 26C. The Milky Way appeared washed-out, but that was to be 
expected. I faced my field of view higher near zenith. At times, even 
Mars would completely disappear into patches of haze. The good thing 
was the near complete lack of any mosquitoes due to the dryness and 
lack of vegetation at the quarry.

I logged 21 meteors. Only one June Lyrid was seen (not much of a 
peak), but it turned out to be the highlight-of-the-night... at 
4:42UT, the blue magnitude -2 meteor on a long 20 degrees path 
flashed at moderate to fast speed below Pegasus and did not have a 
train. The plot confirmed it as a June Lyrid.

The Xi Draconids were still active. Lots of satellites as usual, 
including iridium flares and some tumbling satelltes.

There was one cow not far from the front entrance when I left at the 
end, but I had some leftover donuts to lure it away at a safe 
distance.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: June 15/16 2001
BEGIN: 4:00 UT (0:00 EDT)  END: 7:35 UT (3:35 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
              	SAG (Sagittarids)			18h30 -22
		JLY (June Lyrids)			18h30 +35
		XDR (Xi Draconids)			18h30 +55
		TOP (Theta Ophiuchids)			16h50 -17
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)   FIELD   	Teff   F     LM    SPO SAG JLY XDR TOP
4:00-5:24    17h17 +33	1.00  1.00  5.97    4   0   0   0   0
5:24-6:33    18h54 +22	1.00  "	    6.12    6   1   0   2   0
6:33-7:35    19h51 +22	1.00  "	    6.05    6   0   1   1   0
--------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:              	2.48		    16  1   1   3   0  =  21
--------------------------------------------------------------
The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken down 
as close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal 
Time. The second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I 
centered my field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents 
effective observing time (corrected for breaks or any time I did not 
spent looking at the sky). One hour = 1.00 teff. The fourth column 
(F) is for sky obstructions (clouds, buildings, ect). No obstructions 
= 1.00 but any obstructions will make this number slightly higher. 
The 5th column (LM) is the average naked eye limitimg magnitude, 
determined by triangle star counts. All following columns indicate 
the number of meteors for each shower observed.

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER -2  -1   0  +2  +3  +4  +5	AVERAGE

SPO     0   0   0   2   3   6   5  	+3.88
XDR     0   0   0   0   1   0   2	+4.33
JLY     1   0   0   0   0   0   0	-2.0
SAG     0   0   0   0   0   1   0	+4.0
---------------------------------
TOTALS: 1   0   0   2   4   7   7
---------------------------------
Note: Magnitude scale is to determine the brightness of sky objects. 
Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with the 
planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius, magnitude 
+2 to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6 to +7 are 
the faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark 
conditions. A meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a 
fireball.  The above table contains the magnitudes from all observed 
meteors, and the average for showers.

SKY OBSCURED:
None
------------------------

Dead time (amount of time spent not looking up): 34.73 minutes total 
including 4.23 minutes for plotting meteors

Breaks: 4:22 to 4:45, 5:28 to 5:34, 6:20 (30sec), 6:25 to 6:26
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