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(meteorobs) Observation January 3/4 2002
Here is my full report of the evening of January 3. The sky limiting
magnitude was between 6.4 and 6.5 until moonrise. My field of view
was centered north-west at an elevation of 50 degrees. I watched
from 6:15pm to 10:15pm (local time EST).
The Quadrantids were surprisingly active during the first hour with 9
recorded members. I had to wait only one minute after signing-on
before getting rewarded with a real nice mag -2 yellowish QUA very
low in the north-west. The Quadrantids declined in activity as the
following hours produced just 3 QUA each. These numbers were still a
bit better than I expected considering the very low radiant near the
northern horizon. The total number of meteors (including sporadics)
seen during my nearly 4 hour long session was 34.
What made this session really enjoyable was the fact that as many as
13 meteors scooted very long paths accross the sky (20 degrees length
or more). The most impressive was a mag -3 QUA earthgrazer at 8:10pm
EST that cruised a path of over 30 degrees. It was a mere 5 degrees
above the the north-west horizon, and going almost parallel to the
ground! This meteor was impressive enough to capture the attention
of the other observers also present.
Four more Quadrantids travelled lengths of 50-60 degrees long. They
moved at a fairly leisurely pace accross the sky, usually lasting a
few seconds before they finally extinguished. At 9:48pm, a memorable
mag +2 Quadrantid scooted 60 degrees accross the sky, and went right
through M45. As it kept going, the meteor would continueously flare
"in" and "out" several times. Just as I kept thinking the meteor was
gone, it would suddenly flare up again.
Sporadics rates seemed fairly normal, except for the third hour when
they were almost completely inactive. A mag +3 sporadic seen at
7:58pm had a very gradual "fade-out". It almost appeared nebulous
just before disappearing entirely.
I also reported an unusual satellite sighting. It was surprising to
see any satellites at all this late in the evening. Anyhow, what
caught my attention was a pair of identical mag +2 stars that didn't
belong in the constellation Pegasus. They were seperated by about 3
degrees and were less than 10 degrees from the NW horizon. After
about 1 minute of noticing this, the two objects slowly started to
fade away. They took about 20 seconds before disappearing
completely. My first thought was of geostationary satellites, but
that wouldn't make any sense in that part of the sky. Perhaps they
were a NOSS triplet (with the third satellite just off into the
earth's shadow). I've seen head-on aircraft lights from a long
distance before, and this is not what they were.
In cany case, it was enjoyable to see evening activity under nice dark skies!
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: January 3/4 2002
BEGIN: 2315 UT (1815 EST) END: 0315 UT (2215 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76.0669 West; Lat: 45.0453 North Elevation:100m
City & Province: Franktown, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS: 3-letter code; radiant position
QUA (Quadrantids) 1640 +50
ANT (Antihelions or Cancrids) 0732 +21
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT) FIELD Teff LM SPO QUA ANT
2315-0015 2143 +58 0.99 6.40 6 9 /
0015-0115 2229 +58 1.00 6.43 3 3 /
0115-0225 2358 +51 1.00 6.45 1 3 1
0225-0315 0056 +59 0.83 6.23 5 3 0
-------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 3.82 15 18 1 = 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 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 AVERAGE
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1 3 +3.20
QUA 1 1 0 0 3 2 2 6 3 +2.61
ANT 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 +3.0
---------------------------------
TOTALS: 1 1 0 0 3 6 10 7 6
---------------------------------
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: 11 minutes (for breaks)
Breaks: 2319 UT (30sec), 0129-0139 UT, 0238 UT (30sec)
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