{"id":4439,"date":"2023-05-06T10:45:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-06T09:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.popastro.com\/main_spa1\/meteor\/?page_id=4439"},"modified":"2025-02-07T11:56:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T11:56:47","slug":"section-reports-2023","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.popastro.com\/meteor\/section-reports-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Section Reports: 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

January<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"2023<\/figure>
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The first shower of the year is the Quadrantids. In 2023, the Quadrantids were less dramatic than previously, with cloud interfering for many observers. UKMON only picked up 459 confirmed Quadrantid meteors compared to 738 of the lesser Comae Berenicids shower a week earlier.  By contrast, Phil\u2019s radio picked up as many as 100 Quadantids per hour at one point.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fireballs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We had two reports of a fireball at 01:00 UT on the 9th<\/sup>, from Dave S and John Clinch. Louise Sullivan reported another at 06:58 on the 19th<\/sup>, and Carla Foster reported another almost exactly two days later at 06:67 on the 21st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dawn meteors seem to be the thing, because Tony Care spotted another fireball on the 24th<\/sup>, this time at 06:53 UT. This one was detected by the video networks including my own camera (see picture) and proved to be a magnitude -7 event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click the image for a more detailed report.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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The final reported fireball of the period was an evening event on 28th<\/sup>, at 21:25 UT and was reported by Pieter Jackson. There was a magnitude -10 fireball on the 31st<\/sup> – but unfortunately the UK was clouded out and so all we got on camera was brightly lit cloud! Let\u2019s hope for clearer skies next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February and March<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meteor Section Report: February and March 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

January to mid April are the \u2018dry season\u2019 for meteors, with no night-time showers and very little sporadic activity. So, there\u2019s not much to report this time round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fireball CX1 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Josselin-Desmars-IMCCE-pris-depuis-Paris-1024x683-1\"<\/a><\/figure>
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We do often get fireballs though and the main event of note for this period is of course the asteroid 2023 CX1 that fell over Western France on the 13th<\/sup> of February at 02:59 UT. This was seen by many UK observers, including Amy Fell who saw it from southern England and sent in a report via the Fireball page on the website. The flash was seen as far away as Glasgow and North Wales, even through cloud!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The asteroid\u2019s descent was also captured by three cameras in the UK Meteor network. The data from these cameras contributed to identification of the fall zone, and to the subsequent recovery of meteorites from the ground. Multiple fragments were recovered, much to the delight of all concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more on this story in the Meteor Section News on the website – click the image to read the story.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

April and May<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It has been a very quiet couple of months for meteor hunters. The April Lyrids this year were pretty quiet, with even the video networks only detecting a few. The Eta Aquariids in May were also very quiet. The UK Meteor Network\u2019s video cameras picked up about 300 confirmed meteors in each shower \u2013 but that was across the whole of the UK!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were also no notable fireballs over the UK in April, and only one in May, just East of Scotland. The attached picture was taken at Kielder dark sky site, over 100 km from the meteor, and shows how far away you can see them. Sadly, the meteor was over the sea and any meteorites will be \u2018sleeping with the fishes\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May and June also host some daytime showers. Phil Hayward used his radio meteor detector to record a couple of these, the Epsilon and May Arietids whose radiant is in Aries. The first in particular show a strong \u201cdiurnal\u201d effect, with a peak in the early morning. The May Arietids showed very little activity overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Kielder<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Phil<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June and July<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

June and July are normally quiet for meteor hunters. This year however, there have been worldwide reports of high numbers fireballs associated the Alpha Capricornid meteor shower. The American Meteor Society reported SEVEN fireballs on the night of 25th<\/sup> and morning of 26th<\/sup> July (see here https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/2jfafc26<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar reports were made from other countries around the world, and indeed the UK Meteor Network picked up two very bright events on the same evening (see pictures). The science behind this is still being worked out, but it is believed to be a \u201cresonant swarm\u201d caused by an interaction between the meteoroid stream and the gravity wells of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, which can act like a lens and focus the debris stream into a narrower beam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s it for June and July. As I write, we\u2019re seeing the Perseids ramp up and next month I hope to have a report of more fireballs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August and September<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perseids
<\/strong>Conditions were good for the Perseids this year. My own meteor cameras picked up nearly 1000 meteors on the night of the peak and across the UK, the camera networks detected 64,000 Perseid meteors overall, matching 70% of them up to give 6100 confirmed multi-camera events, while cameras contributing to the Global Meteor Network confirmed 21,363 Perseids. The global network now has more than 1000 cameras, 200 of them in the UK, and the number is growing every week. There were also three reports of fireballs made via the website, on the 7th<\/sup>, 11th<\/sup> and 14th<\/sup> of August..<\/p>\n\n\n

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Closer to home, Tom Banks reports three Perseids on the night of 8\/9th<\/sup> August, and 15 on the night of 11\/12th<\/sup>. He also photographed several on the night of 12th<\/sup>\/13th<\/sup>, including the one seen in the picture of Fiddler\u2019s Ferry below. This photo is a great example of how you can combine star trails, meteors and landscape photography to create something special<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Taken with NightCap. Meteor mode, 5.03 second exposure, 1\/1s shutter speed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On the subject of photographs, Andrew Hampton sent in this iPhone picture of a Perseid. Phone technology has come along in leaps and bounds since I first took a grainy photo of the Moon a decade ago, and with that in mind I\u2019m intending to write an article for the website focusing on phone photography. Thank you, Andrew for the suggestion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Other Showers – Kappa Cygnids & Aurigids<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Visually, both these showers were pretty quiet this year with even the Global Meteor network only reporting around fifty of each worldwide. However, using a radio detector, Phil Hayward was able to identify a strong Kappa Cygnid peak over the background of around 30 per hour at 4am on the 18th<\/sup>, and a weaker Aurigids peak around midnight on the 1st<\/sup> of September. My own radio detector was unfortunately offline during the Perseids, but shows similar peaks to Phil\u2019s for the Aurigids. Note that radio data usually shows higher counts than visual because it is able to detect fainter meteors, and works irrespective of the weather or time of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fireballs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the three Perseid fireballs mentioned earlier, fireballs were reported via the website at the following times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

09 Aug 2200 Bob Weedon, southern England
14 Aug 2145 Jonny Carr, Southern England
05 Sep. 2023 Stephen Booth, Waltham
09 Sep, 1930 Patricial Simpson, Chacewater
24 Sep, 2026 Noel Stewart, Desertmartin NI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK Meteor Network also reported fireballs, some of which were a long way away!
07 Aug 2326, Mag -4.5 sporadic at 2326, over Norway
20 Aug 0001 mag -7 sporadic 100 miles south of Ireland
21 Sep 2204, mag -4.3 sporadic over the Yorkshire Dales
24 Sep 0132, mag -7 sporadic over Wales
24 Sep 0400 mag -6.5 sporadic over the South Downs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of these were considered to have dropped meteorites, but we continue to hope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October and November<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Regular Showers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, the October Draconids were a non-event, with only one confirmed orbit being detected by the UK meteor video network. The Orionids on the 23rd<\/sup> of October were more interesting, with over 2000 confirmed orbits, and the Northern and Southern Taurids yielded around 1100 confirmed orbits between them while over 600 Leonids were confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video network now has very good coverage over all of the UK south of the Highland boundary line, and many minor showers were also detected.  There are details on their new website (link below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio Detections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil Hayward sent in reports for radio detections of the Draconids, Orionids and Leonids. Phil reports a radio peak for the Draconids, while he reports a weak peak for the Orionids and a peak for the Leonids on the morning of the 18th<\/sup>.  My own radio detector picked up similar patterns which is interesting considering the lack of visual reports for the Draconids and the large number reported for the other showers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shows why it\u2019s important to use different techniques to take measurements. Radio detectors are only able to pick up events that occur between the transmitter and detector but will detect during daytime and through cloud, while video cameras can only pick up events at night and only if it is clear, and then only down to about magnitude +6. So, the two methods detect different sorts of event and complement each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fireballs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n