Here’s my meteor observations at Bootland Farm (dark sky site 95 km west of Ottawa) for the morning of October 17. The sky was quite stunning (4/5 transparency) and the limiting magnitude approached 6.5, with the exception of a few small bands of thin clouds that passed through. It was also a bit chilly and below freezing as a layer of frost covered the grassy field.
In a little over two hours from 3:45 to 6:10am (EDT), I saw 37 meteors (15 Orionids, 4 Leonis Minorids, 2 Southern Taurids, one Epsilon Geminid and 15 sporadics).
I was quite impressed by the Orionids numbers during the first hour. The brightest was a mag 0 blue-green beauty near M45 that left a one second train. Typical Orionids are often so faint, brief and fast that I feel they can be very easily missed if an observer is not fully alert. The Leonis Minorids were pretty active in the first hour with long, swift meteors.
Observation October 16/17 2020, 07:45-10:10 UT (03:45-06:10 EDT)
Location: Bootland Farm (Stewartville), Ontario, Canada
(45°23’N 76°29’W)
Observed showers:
Southern Taurids (STA) – 02:34 (038) +11
omicron Eridanids (OER) – 02:34 (038) -05
Northern Taurids (NTA) – 02:50 (043) +20
chi Taurids (CTA) – 03:02 (046) +23
Orionids (ORI) – 06:17 (094) +16
nu Eridanids (NUE) – 06:40 (100) +11
epsilon Geminids (EGE) – 06:47 (102) +28
Leonis Minorids (LMI) – 10:22 (156) +38
07:45-08:50 UT (03:45-04:50 EDT); clear; 3/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.46; facing S55 deg; teff 1.01 hr
ORI: nine: 0; +2(2); +3; +4(4); +5
LMI: three: +3; +4(2)
STA: one: +5
EGE: one: +5
Sporadics: seven: +2(2); +4(2); +5(3)
Total meteors: Twenty-one
08:57-10:10 UT (04:57-06:10 EDT); a few passing clouds; 3/5 trans; F 1.06; LM 6.36; facing S55 deg; teff 1.21 hr
ORI: six: +1; +2(2); +3; +4(2)
STA: one: +4
LMI: one: +2
Sporadics: eight: +1; +3(2); +4(4); +5
Total meteors: Sixteen
Breaks: 07:57-08:01 UT (4 min dead time)
