Eta Aquarids - Let's Do a count !

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

OK a bit of notice on this one ....
6th of May is the peak of the Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower, with a predicted ZHR of 60/hr
Closer to the Time I will set up a poll to collate the counts.
I got a bit more interested in Meteor Showers after talking with Rob Mcnaught at NACAA this year.
Rob has a great system for Automated monitoring of rates and velocities of meteor showers.
I am sure you will be up for it Kearn

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

I was planning on observing on the night of 3rd/4th, as that is a scheduled deep sky club event - weather permitting of course. It's our turn to be drenched at the moment and there is no end in sight!

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Hi Jacquie
I suppose the rain is needed
Hope it clears up for you by the 3rd/4th though.
We are coming into our dry season here and hopefully a dry Anzac day observing night.
I had a look for any stray Lyrids this morning, saw a few Satellites but no Meteors !

[fringe_dweller]

count me in Ian hope the weather co-operates for everyone!
nice little write up in AS&T from Greg on this one too

[Rob_K]

Yeah Ian, these look good! Unfortunately fine weather or not it looks like I'm out. IMO are predicting peak ZHR up to 70, based on a 12-year cycle, but the NASA "fluxtimator" is giving me about 27, LOL . Good luck with it!

Cheers -

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thanks Rob/Kearn
Who has the best meteor shower site now ?
There used to be one attached to the IMO site by Gary Koncks ?
But I don't think it is up anymore ?

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Gary Kronk's pages are now here: http://meteorshowersonline.com/index.html and they are just as excellent as ever.

[fringe_dweller]

Hi Ian, the one i still like the most for a quick condensed version/look is still Robert Lunsford's page, altho sometimes not always updated, still is my first port of call,

http://www.amsmeteors.org/lunsford/

but then i am an 8 year? veteran of meterobs mailing lists not the yahoo groups mirror site either - they rock! nothing beats them imo,

this newish site totally rocks too

http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl/~jopek/MDC2007/index.php

check out the most comprehensive lists ever in sidebar

http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl/~jopek/M...=0&sort_roje=0

[AlexN]

caught 5 - 7 strays during my 4.5hr observing session last night.. cant wait!

[Rob_K]

Wow, nice links guys, thanks! Kearn, looks like you’re really into this stuff! I just tend to use the IMO, or more particularly their calendar:
http://www.imo.net/
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2008?PHPSESSID=d38925598fb518d070a1 34c028723470

Use this NASA one sometimes too, although I’ve got no idea how accurate it is or how often it is updated. Data appears to be missing for lots of showers too :
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html

Cheers -

[fringe_dweller]

Rob, i'm more a very casual armchair/computer chair meteor fan than a visual observer thesedays, did a shipload of visual years ago, body cant hack the hours and conditions like i used to in my '30s, but i'm out for the big rarer showboat ones!,
i would need to move back somewhere with darker skies again like i used to have, and give up smoking lol, it can be done!.
I like what people like Karl are doing, that appeals to me more now - amazing how one can live off the fumes of good ones of yesteryear for a long time, like i have - i saw the peaks of the last proposed ETA 10-12 cycle from dark morning skies, be great if it works out to be accurate prediction.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I'm planning on setting up the Gstar-Ex with a wide angle lens to capture the event. Weather permitting of course.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thanks Kearn
They are great links !
Its a pity we don't seem to have something to match this for the southern hemisphere
Maybe, we could ask Mike to include a Category for Meteor Showers ?
Just a thought ?

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Originally Posted by Blue Skies

Gary Kronk's pages are now here: http://meteorshowersonline.com/index.html and they are just as excellent as ever.

Thanks for that link Jacquie, his pages are excellent, very accessible writing style and he even thinks about our 1/2 of the world !

[Outbackmanyep]

I fell alseep for the Geminids, i wonder if i can stay awake or get up early for this one! I'll give it a shot!

[Dave47tuc (David)]

This link may help also. Old friend of mine Adam runs this.
Can make some good reading and see the photo's of our 1998 leonids trip to Woomera.
http://adamrmarsh.customer.netspace....MNHomepage.htm

I hope to see some Eta's this week.

[Liz]

Struggled outa bed early hours today for some of the meteor shower. Beautiful night and sky, though moisture in the air as usual for up here. Saw about 16 meteors from 0230 - 0500 hrs, with some lovely long lasting trails, with 14 of these likely eta aquarids. Worth getting up, though will prob be better tomorrow am.

[Craig.a.c (Craig)]

I will have to keep an eye for them in the next few nights while I am at work.
Which part of the night sky will it be coming from?

[badchap]

Originally Posted by Craig.a.c

I will have to keep an eye for them in the next few nights while I am at work.
Which part of the night sky will it be coming from?

From the north east part of the sky. Aquarius is up over the horizon after around 2 am-ish. Still gives it some time to get higher in the sky before sunrise.

Another quick bit of info with a link to a chart to add-

http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm#Meteor

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

I made a serious attempt last night but cloud sunk most of the efforts. However I did get one solid hour in with 14 eta Aquarids seen between 4.30am-5.30am (20.30 - 21.30 UT May 3rd). Then the cloud came back. I saw at least two -3 Aquarids, one outside of that hour recording period.

I'm having a go at filling out the official IMO report form and while I had good intentions I don't think I can submit it as I didn't record all the magnitudes for the sporadics. Is there anyone out there who does this who knows how much that matters? I'll know next time!

Also what info do the "T_eff" and "F" boxes want? The instructions aren't clear.