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(meteorobs) Observation September 15/16 2001
On September 15/16, I had the pleasure to join a number of
enthusiatic observers at our 1830 feet high dark sky site in Foymount
(located west of Ottawa). The sky was never perfectly clear due to
cirrus and haze, and the transparency was down compared to a pristine
night at this site. However, it was still a rewarding experience. The
gegenshein was faintly visible along the ecliptic.
With nearly 4 hours teff, I logged 44 meteors. These included 7
shower members from the Piscids and the September Perseids. There was
a quick surge of sporadics during the second hour as well as decent
rates from the north apex source for the final hour.
A handful of bright meteors were seen including a pair of fast
magnitude -3 north apex meteors. They left behind glowing trains for
a few seconds. However, the highlight was a very slow moving 3rd
magnitude Piscid near its radiant. It was distinctively orange.
I was forced to sign-off much earlier than expected due to a thick
band of haze approaching from the north near 3am EDT.
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: September 15/16 2001
BEGIN: 2:40 UT (22:40 EDT) END: 6:43 UT (2:43 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
KAQ (Kappa Aquarids) 22h22 -06
SPI (Piscids - ANT) 00h30 +03
SPE (September Perseids) 04h25 +50
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff LM SPO SPI SPE KAQ npx spx
2:40-3:42 22h07 +13 1.00 6.51 7 1 0 0 0 0
3:42-4:44 23h04 +15 1.01 6.49 14 1 1 0 0 0
4:44-5:46 00h08 +14 1.00 6.48 6 0 0 0 3 0
5:46-6:43 01h16 +09 0.92 6.30 2 2 2 0 5 0
-------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 3.93 29 4 3 0 8 0 = 44
-------------------------------------------------------
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 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 AVERAGE
SPO 2 0 1 0 1 5 12 8 8 +3.02
SPI 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 +3.0
SPE 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 +3.33
-----------------------------------------
TOTALS: 2 0 1 0 1 6 16 10 8
-----------------------------------------
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: 7.03 minutes (3.78 minutes for plots)
Breaks: 3:27 (30sec), 3:38 (30sec), 5:06 (30sec), 5:41 (1min), 6:24
(30sec), 6:30 (15sec)
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