Introduction
On October 16/17 I was observing meteors from my homeplace in the south-eastern parts of Norway. The sky was clear with a limiting magnitude of 6,23, and the night was calm and a bit moisty. Showers of interest this night were the Orionids, Southern Taurids, Epsilon Geminids, Delta Aurigids, and the Leo Minorids. A total of 78 meteors were observed in 4,62 hours of effective observing time, and 9 meteors were photographed with my DSLR camera.
Observations
22:45 – 23:55 Teff: 1.167, F: 1.00, Lm: 6.23, RA: 45, Dec: +50
I started observations 22:45 UT, and after only 6 minutes a beautiful, yellow, 0 magnitude Taurid meteor slowly glided through my camera field in Auriga. This meteor was probably a Northern Taurid, but since the working list of the IMO does not consider this shower to be active before October 20, all NTA’s observed this night were recorded as being Southern Taurids. Activity from the Taurids continued to be good throughout the first 1,17 hour period, with 3 more meteors observed, making a total of four. 7 sporadic meteors were observed during this first period, and also the ORI, EGE and DAU showers showed up with one meteor each.
Spo: 3(3), 4(2), 5, 6 – 7 meteors
STA: 0, 3(2), 4 – 4 meteors
DAU: 4 – 1 meteor
EGE: 4 – 1 meteor
ORI: 4 – 1 meteor
LMI: 0 meteors
23:55 – 01:05 Teff: 1.167, F: 1.00, Lm: 6.23, RA: 60, Dec: +45
In the next period sporadic rates were up to 9 meteors, but no meteors were brighter than magnitude +2. The climbing Orionid radiant also contributed to an increase in Orionid rates to 3 meteors observed. Taurid rates were down to 2 observed meteors, both of magnitude +5. I had an impression that meteors belonging to the southern branch of the Taurid shower, were weaker than the ones I considered belonging to the northern branch.
Spo: 2(2), 3(3), 4(3), 6 – 9 meteors
STA: 5(2) – 2 meteors
DAU: 0 meteors
EGE: 3 – 1 meteor
ORI: 2, 5, 6 – 3 meteors
LMI: 0 meteors
01:05 – 02:20 Teff: 1.116, F: 1.00, Lm: 6.23, RA: 60, Dec: +45
The third period started with an 8 minutes break to change battery in my camera, and to fill up with energy from a chocolate bar. The trend from the previous period continued with rising sporadic activity of mainly faint meteors. 15 meteors were observed during the 1,116 hour long period, with no meteor being brighter than magnitude +2. Orionid rates also climbed to 5 meteors and Taurid rates were back to 4 meteors. All in all, this was an exciting period because of the high overall meteor activity, even though no bright meteors were seen.
Spo: 2(3), 3(3), 4(4), 5(4), 6 – 15 meteors
STA: 2, 3(2), 5 – 4 meteors
DAU: 2 – 1 meteor
EGE: 0 meteors
ORI: 2, 4(2), 5, 6 – 5 meteors
LMI: 5 – 1 meteor
02:20 – 03:30 Teff: 1.167, F: 1.00, Lm: 6.23, RA: 75, Dec: +40
The last period of the night was pretty much a continuation of the former. A slight decrease in sporadic activity was observed, with 11 meteors in 1,167 hours. 6 Orionids were seen in the same period, among with 5 Southern Taurids and 1 Epsilon Geminid. During this period only one meteor brighter than magnitude +3 was seen, a nice, slow +2 magnitude sporadic between Gemini and Procyon. During the whole night only one meteor brighter than magnitude +2 was seen, but the session was not boring after all! Sometimes I feel a great satisfaction in observing faint meteors. It tells me that observing conditions are really good, and it leaves me with an exclusive feeling, knowing that I probably was the only one in the world seeing that elusive +5 magnitude meteor in Andromeda!
Spo: 2, 3(3), 4(2), 5(4), 6 – 11 meteors
STA: 3(2), 4(3) – 5 meteors
DAU: 0 meteors
EGE: 3 – 1 meteor
ORI: 3(3), 4(2), 5 – 6 meteors
LMI: 0 meteors
