Here’s a report on my recent outing to Bootland Farm (near Stewartville, ON, about 75 km west of Ottawa). I observed meteors for a few hours until the morning twilight. The sky was clear with below-average transparency, and the low +7C (44F) was cool enough to keep the bugs away. It was very humid and damp; I was glad that I had my boots. In the three hours that I observed, I saw 21 meteors (including 2 anthelions, one eta Aquariid, one possible Tau Herculid and 17 sporadics). The brightest meteor was a +1 yellow-orange sporadic. The possible Tau Herculid seen was a +4 slow meteor that seemed to become nebulous or fragment.
The crescent Moon rising in the east in the morning dawn, along with the Jupiter, Mars and Venus grouping was quite pretty.
The weather is looking fairly promising for tomorrow night’s potential Tau Herculids outburst, but scattered thin clouds and cirrus might mean a road trip to hunt for the clearest dark skies.
May 24/25 2022, 05:05-08:15 UT (01:05-04:15 EDT)
Location: Bootland Farm, Ontario, Canada
(Long: -76 deg 29’ West; Lat: 45 deg 23′ North)
IMO session: https://www.imo.net/members/imo_vmdb/view?session_id=84007
Observed showers:
Anthelion (ANT) – 16:56 (254) -23
eta Aquariids (ETA) – 23:13 (348) +04
May Camelopardalids (CAM) – 08:08 (122) +79
Tau Herculids (TAH) – 13:56 (209) +28
05:05-06:05 UT (01:05-02:05 EDT); 2/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.15; facing N55 deg; teff 1.00 hr
ANT: one: +4
Sporadics: five: +2; +4(2); +5(2)
Total meteors: Six
06:05-07:05 UT (02:05-03:05 EDT); 2/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.20; facing N55 deg; teff 1.00 hr
ANT: one: +2
ETA: one: +2
Sporadics: eight: +1; +2; +3; +4(3); +5(2)
Total meteors: Ten
07:05-08:15 UT (03:05-04:15 EDT); 2/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 5.64; facing N55 deg; teff 1.16 hr
TAH: one: +4
Sporadics: four: +2; +3(2); +4
Total meteors: Five
Total meteors for this session: 21
Clear skies,
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
