[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

(meteorobs) Perseids from Edmonton, Canada

Hello, this is a preliminary report of my Perseid observations from last
night.  Unfortunately my microcassette recorder seized up late in the
evening, likely due to dew, and until I can get my hands on a replacement I
can't transcribe my notes or get accurate counts from myself or my two
fellow counters, although my general impression is that the observed rate
was somewhere between 40-50 per hour.

We observed from 1-4 a.m. MDT (0700-1000 UT), under good but not great skies
at our Blackfoot observing site.  Limiting magnitude was not quite 6 for the
most part.  We had good results early, in fact I had by far my best 10
minute bin right away, between 0710-0720 UT, when I counted 15 Perseids, two
Aquarids (I can't tell the various streams apart) and one kappa Cygnid.
After that the counts settled down into the range of 7-10 per 10 minutes.
This seems to support Pierre Martin's observation of a surge after 0700 UT.

I missed the best meteor of the night, while I was fiddling inside the van
to turn on the FM radio receiver.  I heard the roar and looked out to see a
contrail gradually dissipating in the west.  It was estimated at -5, but I
personally saw nothing brighter than ~ -2.  Bad timing notwithstanding, the
radio component really added to the show.  I tuned the receiver to 92.1, a
rock station  in Calgary, 300 km to the south, and we were treated to an
aural bombardment, typically 15-30 bursts per 10 minute bin.  An accurate
count was difficult because it's impossible to hear more than one meteor at
a time, and some of the brighter ones would carry on for tens of seconds.
The first really clear one contained exactly the title words from Kiss's "I
Wanna Rock and Roll All Night" which seemed appropriate!  I also noticed at
times that consecutive signals wouldn't necessarily correspond with a
consistent transmission, e.g. an announcer's voice quickly followed by a
female singer, followed within a minute by a male singer and a different
beat.  Presumably we were picking up snippets from other stations further
afield on the same wavelength.  Finally, a significant percentage of the
brighter meteors seen visually were exactly concurrent with the beginning of
a loud outburst from the radio, although the sound would tend to carry on
several seconds longer than any persistent visual train.   Meteors in the
south, particularly near the meridian, were much more likely to have an
audio counterpart, but the correlation was not 100%; i.e. there were a few
southern meteors with no audio, and a couple others near the western horizon
that did.

Finally, I am on an ongoing basis, recording radio meteors on a home
receiving setup, again using 92.1.  Meteor rates last night were the highest
yet, although recorded rates of ~15 per hour are far lower than what I heard
on a simple car radio, causing me some concern about the sensitivity of my
setup.  In addition to using a strip chart (Radio Sky Pipe), I used a VCR to
record the audio from 0800-1600 UT, while the video feed contains a time
stamp from a local cable channel.  Using this method I have been able to
record some lengthy signals from overdense trails.  While I am in the
process of transcribing last night's results, I will be interested to hear
if I pick up any snippets from the same songs I heard "live" last night.
Given that the observing site is some 50 km east of my home receiver, I have
my doubts, but I'll keep an open mind on the subject.

Hope to get out again tonight, at least as far as the backyard.  regards,
Bruce


The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
To stop getting all email from the 'meteorobs' lists, use our Webform:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html
References: