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(meteorobs) Observation March 27/28 2004

Hi all,

Here's my first meteor observation report for 2004...
On the night of March 27/28, I was out at the Bonnechere airstrip dark 
sky site (located north-west of Ottawa).  While I spent most of the 
night with my telescope, I managed to get a brief meteor recording 
session.  The sky was of average (2/4 quality) transparency, with a 
average magnitude limit of 6.50.  Even though the meteor activity was 
quite slow, it was nice to spend some time relaxing under a pristine 
sky.  To the east, most of the summer constellations and Milky Way were 
rising, and there were a lot of artificial satellites zipping by.

In this last hour before dawn, I recorded only 6 meteors.  None got 
brighter than 2nd magnitude.  No Virginids (antihelions) were seen, 
only one apex sporadic and the rest were random sporadics.

Clear skies!

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario



DATE: March 27/28 2004
BEGIN: 0838 UT (0338 EST)  END: 0940 UT (0440 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -77.66 West; Lat: 45.66 North  Elevation: 50m
City & Province: Bonnechere airstrip, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_____________________________________radiant position
		ANT (Antihelions or Virginids)_________________1324 -08
		NPX (sporadics from the north apex)____________1824 -08
		SPX (sporadics from the south apex)____________1824 -38
		SPO (random sporadics)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)__FIELD___Teff__F_____LM_____ANT_NPX_SPX_SPO

0838-0940__1654+10__1.01__1.00__6.50____0___1___0___5 = 6

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). The fourth column (F) is a value for obstructions in the field of 
view such as clouds (1.00 = 100% clear skies). The next column (LM) is 
the average naked eye limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star 
counts. All following columns indicate the number of meteors for each 
shower observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
_____+2__+3__+4__+5_____AVE

SPO___1___2___2___1____+3.50

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 (FOV): None
------------------------

Dead time: 1.32 min. (for plotting)

Breaks (UT): None

-------------------------




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