[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Observing meteors from the Greek island of Chios
[Sorry about the delay forwarding this for you, Koen! -Lew Gramer]
Meteor observations from the Greek island Chios.
In the period of 18 july until 1 August I was on holiday on the Greek
island Chios. Chios is a small island near the Turkish coast at geographical
latitude +38,5 degrees north, and longitude 26 degrees east.
The sky from Chios is often (always...) clear, but mostly there was some
haze at lower altitude, variable about 10 to 20 degrees thick. Above this
layer of moisture and dust the sky was good. Mostly I had Limiting
Magnitudes of 6,6 sometimes 6,7 or 6.5 which is very fine for meteor
observing. Since I was with my wife and child on a holiday I could not
observe every night or the whole night. And it was a little difficult to
find a nice observing place near our appartment. So the first observations
were made on the night 22/23 july. Here's a short list with some rought
data:
Nr. Night T eff.hr Per dAq Cap pCy Sag Pau KCy Spo total
1) 22/23 july 4,29 12 18 10 10 1 0 - 50 101
2) 23/24 july 4,11 13 26 6 3 0 1 - 65 114
3) 24/25 july 2,30 10 11 4 0 0 0 - 31 56
4) 26/27 july 3,66 17 26 7 - 0 1 - 50 101
5) 27/28 july 5,10 20 44 12 - 0 0 - 75 151
6) 28/29 july 3,28 17 38 5 - 0 1 3 36 100
7) 29/30 july 3,18 19 45 5 - 0 - 2 33 104
8) 30/31 july 2,84 25 41 1 - 0 - 3 26 96
In short: During 8 nights and 28 observing hours I recorded 823 meteors.
Here are some impressions I had of the observed meteor showers.
Perseids.
The observing location Chios is not so good for the Perseods as the
Netherlands (my home country) because the radiant of the Perseods lies on
the horizon when observations started. In the Netherlands it lies at an
altitude of ~25 degrees at the beginning of the night. Slow rising activity
during the whole period. At the end of july there were some bright ones up
to -2. Highest hourly count: 11.
Delta Aquarids.
The island Chios is far more souther situated than the Netherlands
(geographical latitude +52) so the radiants of the southern streams lies
much higher in the sky (~15 degrees). So I did see many delta Aquarids. I
did not plotted them (just counting) and when possible I distinguish them
between the southern and northern branch (delta Aqurids south or delta
Aquarids north). But sometimes the both radiants lines up with each other so
these I marked as delta Aquarids. Highest hourly count : 20 (north and
south). Brightest meteor magnitude 0.
Capricornids.
In 1984 I observed the Capricornids from southern France. Then they showed
nice activity, up to 7 an hour. And also many bright ones were seen
(2x -4, -5 and a -8). So I hoped that the activity was te same as in 1984
with many bright ones. But it was not. It was a little dissapointing: most
Capricornids were faint, the brightest was a nice blue/green -2. Highest
hourly count : 4.
Phi Cygnids.
The first night they were easely to recognize. But after the second night
none phi Cygnids were seen.
Kappa Cygnids.
The last three nights there was some activity of some early kappa Cygnids.
In the IMO meteor handbook the streams gives activity from 3 august, but in
1990 members of the Dutch Meteor Society did capture a early kappa Cygnid
(magn. -3) simultaneously on photo during the night 30/31 july.
The brightest one this time was a magnitude 0.
Sporadic activity lies between 10 (early part of the night) and 15/20 at the
end of the night. Brightest sporadic meteor was a -3. Further I did see some
activity of "earth grazing" meteors radiating from the Pleiades and some
meteors coming from a point near the star beta Ceti.
All in all it was nice to observe from Chios. Maybe next year again?
Many regards,
Koen.
----------------------------------------------------
Koen Miskotte,
DMS visual Observations,
De Heuvel 6,
3853 EW Ermelo,
The Netherlands,
Phone: 0031 (0)341-558729
e-mail : k.miskotte@wxsdot nl
----------------------------------------------------
------- End of Forwarded Message
To stop getting email from the 'meteorobs' list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html