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(meteorobs) Observation December 10/11 2001
Last night, I had another successful run for meteor observing in
Casselman. Another mild night and still no snow on the ground. I
watched for 2 hours teff shortly after midnight under reasonably
clear skies. As expected, activity was twice as strong than the
previous night. The Geminids were the dominant source, with as many
as 21 seen out of 50 meteors. All the rest were a combination of
sporadics and other minor showers.
The highlights included a spectacular magnitude -4 Sigma Hydrid
fireball that crossed 30 degrees near the zenith. It left a
persistent train visible for 12 seconds. Also interesting was a tiny
Geminid near its radiant that was less than one degree long!
The final hour produced a surprising number of sporadics from the apex source.
Altogether, an enjoyable session!
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: December 10/11 2001
BEGIN: 5:15 UT (0:15 EST) END: 7:15 UT (2:15 EST)
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
GEM (Geminids) 07h08 +33
MON (Monocerotids) 06h40 +08
XOR (chi Orionids) 06h08 +23
HYD (Sigma Hydrids) 08h20 +02
Napx (north apex) 11h08 +20
Sapx (south apex) 11h08 -10
SPO (sporadics) -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff LM SPO GEM HYD XOR MON napx sapx
5:15-6:15 06h33 +07 1.00 6.28 8 10 2 0 0 0 /
6:15-7:15 07h29 +12 1.00 6.30 7 11 2 3 2 5 0
-------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 2.00 15 21 4 3 2 5 0 = 50
-------------------------------------------------------------
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 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 AVERAGE
SPO 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 6 7 +3.75
GEM 0 0 0 0 3 2 7 2 4 3 +2.52
HYD 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 +3.0
XOR 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 +3.0
MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 +3.0
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 1 0 0 0 4 2 10 9 13 11
----------------------------------------------
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: None
Breaks (UT): None
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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