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(meteorobs) August 9/10 2002 HALCA
Greetings all,
Following is a report for the pre-max activity time for Perseids. Seemed
quiet but steady. I was up at 'Starfest', Canada's largest star party, near
Mount Forest, northwest of Toronto, Ontario. I drove up by myself on
Thursday, about 7.5 hours of driving not counting stops, and back home here
Sunday. Bit of a drive solo, but was enjoyable.
Did a mixture of meteors, casual binocular observing, looking at comets and
deep sky objects through a friend's 20" Obsession telescope, and did a bit
of camera and tripod photography to check out the night response of a new
film I'm experimenting with. Relaxed and fun...
Highlight of Thursday night was a beautiful Pisces Austrinid meteor that
just went on and on and on across the sky... Saw Comet Hoenig up in Cepheus
in the scope, and in the Friday pre-dawn sky saw Comet C/2002 O6, a little
beaut of a comet down in Orion - and quite nice in binoculars as well.
Check it out! Packed it in about 5.30 a.m.
Highlight of Friday night was a magnificent Iridium flare, estimated at -6
to -7, brightest I have ever seen. Comets were good, and did a couple hours
Teff. Meteors did not - in general - seem as plentiful or as bright as
Thursday night. Again, packed things in pre-dawn at about 5.30 a.m. Saturn
was nice, up again for the season.
Saturday night's sky was a bit more mushy, with a system starting to move
in. Did casual binocular observing, and ran some half hour photos to test
out colour response for a film I haven't tried at night yet. Bed early,
about 3.00 a.m. as I had a long drive home Sunday.
So... pleasant weekend, nice to just get out again under the dome of a
decent dark sky. Hope you all have some good nights and some enjoyable
Perseids as well!
Detailed meteor report is as follows below.
Clear skies,
- Cathy Hall
Metcalfe, Ontario, Canada.
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NAMN Visual Observing Form:
--------------------------------------------------
DATE: August 9/10 2002 BEGIN: 6.31 UT END: 8.29 UT
OBSERVER: Cathy Hall (HALCA)
LOCATION: Long: 80 50' 11.9" West; Lat: 44 04' 31.6" North
City/Province/Country: Mount Forest, Ontario, Canada
Elevation: 1250 feet
RECORDING METHOD: Tape Recorder
--------------------------------------------------
OBSERVED SHOWERS:
PER 043 +58 (RA 02h 52.2m Dec +58) 59 km/sec
NDA 335 -5 (RA 22h 19.8m Dec -5) 42 km/sec
SDA 349 -13 (RA 23h 16.2m Dec -13) 41 km/sec
NIA 317 -7 (RA 21h 7.8m Dec -7) 31 km/sec
SIA 339 -14 (RA 22h 36m Dec -14) 34 km/sec
KCG 284 +58 (RA 18h 55.8m Dec +58) 25 km/sec
CAP 318 -6 (RA 21h 12m Dec -6) 25 km/sec
PAU 352 -26 (RA 23h 28.2m Dec -26) 35 km/sec
--------------------------------------------------
OBSERVING PERIODS:
0 = None seen; / = shower not watched
Period (UT) Field Teff F LM
PER NDA SDA NIA SIA KCG CAP PAU SPO
6.31-7.30 23h00 +5 .77 1.00 6.37
10 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 9
7.30-8.29 00h00 +15 .92 1.00 6.37
9 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 13
Totals:
19 1 0 2 3 0 0 0 22
Total Meteors: 47
Total Teff: 1.69 hours
--------------------------------------------------
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
SHR -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 TOTAL MEAN
PER 1 0 1 2.5 10 3.5 1 19 2.84
NDA 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3.00
SDA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a
NIA 0 0 0 0 0 1.5 .5 2 4.25
SIA 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 2.33
KCG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a
CAP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a
PAU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a
SPO 0 0 0 0 2 6.5 13.5 22 4.52
--------------------------------------------------
SKY OBSCURED: none
0 % FROM: 6.31 UT to 8.29 UT
--------------------------------------------------
DEAD TIME: 1.57 min.
BREAKS: 15 min.
FROM: 7.18 UT to 7.33 UT
--------------------------------------------------
LIMITING MAGNITUDE:
TIME AREA COUNT LM
6.31 6 14 6.4
7.00 6 13 6.35
7.33 6 13 6.35
8.00 6 13 6.35
8.29 6 14 6.4
MEAN LIMITING MAGNITUDE: 6.37
--------------------------------------------------
METEOR DATA:
(UT) SPEED
# TIME MAG 1-5 CLR SHR DCV/LEN TRAIN
01 06.33 3.5 4 W PER 30/15
02 06.33 5.0 2 W SPO 30/02
03 06.36 4.5 2 W NIA 15/08
04 06.36 5.0 3 W SPO 20/04
05 06.37 4.0 3 W SPO 15/03
06 06.37 2.5 4 W PER 30/12
07 06.38 2.5 4 W PER 45/15
08 06.40 3.0 4 W PER 45/20
09 06.43 4.0 4 W PER 20/12
10 06.47 3.0 4 W PER 30/20
11 06.47 4.0 4 W PER 00/20
12 06.47 4.5 3 W SPO 20/10
13 06.53 4.5 3 W SPO 00/04
14 06.55 3.0 2-3 W SIA 00/06
15 06.59 3.0 3 W NDA 15/08
16 07.00 3.0 4 W PER 40/14
17 07.03 2.0 4 W PER 40/18
18 07.04 2.0 2 W SIA 45/08
19 07.04 5.0 3 W SPO 30/04
20 07.06 5.0 3 W SPO 00/05
21 07.06 5.0 4 W SPO 10/15
22 07.15 5.0 3 W SPO 00/12
23 07.15 2.0 2 W SIA 20/03
24 07.17 3.0 4 W PER 25/15
25 07.33 5.0 4 W SPO 30/03
26 07.42 -1.0 4 W PER 25/25
27 07.43 2.5 4 W PER 35/18 .5 sec
28 07.44 4.0 4 W PER 45/08 .5 sec
29 07.46 4.5 4 W SPO 30/12
30 07.47 4.0 3 W SPO 15/06
31 07.49 4.0 2 W NIA 40/06
32 07.49 3.0 4 W PER 00/12
33 07.53 4.0 3 W SPO 00/12
34 07.53 3.0 4 W PER 20/12
35 08.03 4.0 4 W SPO 20/18
36 08.03 1.0 4 W PER 30/16 .5 sec
37 08.09 5.0 3 W SPO 00/02
38 08.10 5.0 4 W SPO 40/14
39 08.14 4.5 4 W SPO 30/08
40 08.16 5.0 4 W SPO 10/12
41 08.18 3.0 4 W PER 45/08
42 08.20 4.5 3 W SPO 30/08
43 08.20 3.0 3-4 W PER 45/08 .5 sec
44 08.20 5.0 3 W SPO 00/03
45 08.22 3.0 3 W SPO 30/12
46 08.23 5.0 4 W PER 00/06
47 08.27 3.0 4 W SPO 15/07
SPEED (VELOCITY) SCALE:
0 = Stationary
1 = Very Slow
2 = Slow
3 = Medium
4 = Fast
5 = Very Fast
--------------------------------------------------
REMARKS:
- recording time/meteor: 2 sec
- DCV is distance of meteor from center of view
- LEN is length of meteor in degrees
- shower positions from IMO Table 6
- weather - pleasant, no mosquitoes, est. 10-15C
- meteor #21 - parallel to square of Pegasus, up from Taurus area
- meteor #35 - fast, up from pre-dawn Betelgeuse area
- meteor #38 - fast, up from pre-dawn Betelgeuse area
- highlight of meteor evening was iridium flare at 7.44 UT near head of
Cetus, flared to estimated -6 to -7, brightest iridium flare I have ever
seen! (later confirmed as Iridium 11, quoted at -7, seen from just over 3
miles from flare center)
- beautiful morning sky with Saturn, Taurus and Comet C/2002 O6
- C/2002 O6 visible easily in 7x35 binoculars above Orion, and also viewed
in a friend's 20" Obsession telescope - very nice indeed!
- earlier in evening saw Comet Hoenig in the same telescope - so 2 comets in
one night! :)
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