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(meteorobs) Observation August 24/25 2001
On August 24/25, I observed from the much darker Foymount site
(located west of Ottawa). The skies were very good during this
pre-dawn meteor session. I was able to easily locate a known
magnitude 6.8 star, and with some effort a 6.9 star at zenith. The
Milky Way was visually spectacular, and the faint glow of the
zodiacal band was just barely visible all along the ecliptic. For
this report, I've also combined the limiting magnitudes from standard
triangle star counts for my field of view.
The meteor rates were not disappointing, especially for a night with
only minor activity. With over two hours teff, I recorded 34 meteors.
All the minor showers produced at least some activity, except for the
Kappa Cygnids.
The highlights included a Perseid and sporadic at 7:41 UT only one
second apart. The nicest one was a magnitude -1 meteor from the south
apex source. It was colored yellow-green and left behind a 2 sec
train.
A very enjoyable night, among several other observers who had a
variety of telescopes and binoculars setup.
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: August 24/25 2001
BEGIN: 6:40 UT (2:40 EDT) END: 8:50 UT (4:50 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
NIA (N. Iota Aquarids - ANT) 23h20 -03
PER (Perseids) 04h00 +58
AUR (Alpha Aurigids) 05h00 +41
KCG (Kappa Cygnids) 19h20 +58
ERI (Eridanids) 03h13 -17
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff LM SPO ERI PER AUR NIA KCG napx sapx
6:40-7:42 01h53 +19 1.01 6.77 11 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
7:42-8:50 02h59 +21 1.11 6.66 11 1 1 0 1 0 2 3
---------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 2.12 22 2 2 1 1 0 2 4 = 34
---------------------------------------------------------------
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
(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 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 AVERAGE
SPO 1 0 3 7 5 7 4 1 +3.04
ERI 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 +3.5
PER 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 +3.0
AUR 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 +4.0
NIA 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 +3.0
-------------------------------------
TOTALS: 1 0 3 8 8 8 5 1
-------------------------------------
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: 2.73 minutes (for plots)
Breaks: None
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