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(meteorobs) Observation July 6/7 2002
Hi everybody,
Here are a series of long-overdue meteor observation reports for the
month of July...
The first night this month was held at Foymount on July 6/7, a dark
sky site located almost 2 hours west of Ottawa. Weather conditions
were going to be very promising, and above-average transparency was
predicted. Unfortunately, smoke blowing south from the forest fires
in northern Quebec caused some problems. As I signed-on near local
midnight, my limiting magnitude averaged 6.25 and the Milky Way was a
far cry from the very dark nights I usually experience at this site.
No doubt, there was still lots of smoke hanging in the atmosphere.
The air also had a strong "burning wood" odor, and dust would
occasionally cause tears in my eyes. As the night went on, the smoke
slowly thinned somewhat until my limiting magnitude reached 6.45. In
any case, it was enjoyable to be out again...
I observed for two and a half hours TEFF (effective time). In this
time, I recorded a total of 15 meteors (including one July Pegasid
and 14 sporadics). I used a combination of plotting and cord
alignment.
The highlight was a magnitude 0 blue sporadic that shot a swift 20
degrees long path across the sky!
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
DATE: July 6/7 2002
BEGIN: 0355 UT (2355 EDT) END: 0709 UT (0309 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77.304 West; Lat: 45.431 North Elevation: 1800 ft
City & Province: Foymount, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________________radiant position
SAG (Sagittarids antihelion source)_____299 -20
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)________________287 -17
JPG (July Pegasids)_____________________338 +15
TAQ (Tau Aquarids)______________________350 -09
CET (Cetids)____________________________033 -08
napx (sporadics from the north apex)____056 +21
sapx (sporadics from the south apex)____056 -09
SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed
PERIOD(UT)__FIELD____Teff__LM____SPO_JPG_SAG_CAP_TAQ_CET_napx_sapx
0355-0456___1859+15__1.00__6.25__4___0___0___0___0___0____0____0
0456-0629___2014+15__1.00__6.35__5___1___0___0___0___0____1____0
0629-0709___2110+10__0.52__6.45__4___0___0___0___0___0____0____0
TOTALS:______________2.52________13__1___0___0___0___0____1____0 = 15
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
SPO: +0(1) 1(1) +2(1) +3(2) +4(5) +5(4) AVE: +3.5
JPG: +0(0) 1(0) +2(0) +3(1) +4(0) +5(0) AVE: +3.0
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 (last column) for showers.
------------------------
SKY OBSCURED:
None
Corresponding F value for this session is 1.00
------------------------
Dead time:
- 41.58 minutes for breaks.
- 1.16 min used for plots.
Breaks (UT): 0409 (30 sec), 0439 (20 sec), 0500-0513, 0525-0538,
0600-0601, 0615-0620, 0641-0649, 0652 (45 sec)
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