(meteorobs) Obs: 19/20 Aug 2006

[pmartsching at mchsi.com]

20 August 2006 02:45-05:45 (CDST 19/20 Aug 2006 9:45pm - 12:45am)

Paul Martsching
McFarland Park Observatory 4 miles NE of Ames, Story County, Iowa
Long: 93 deg 34 min W   Lat: 42 deg 05 min N   Elevation: 318 meters
Method: Visual; paper, pencil and talking clock
No apparent reason for the low number of meteors seen.  Extremely heavy dew. 
Sky appeared little worse than usual near the horizon.  A bit of very thin,
generalized haze here and there on the way home, but scarcely dense enough to
qualify as fog.

02:45-03:45; 65 deg F; wind N 5 mph; clear; average limiting magnitude 5.9;
facing East 50 degrees; Total teff 1.0 hour (8 jets/planes; 8 satellites)
Time   mag.   type   comment
02:54  -1     Spor    yellow; began near Kappa Cygni; ended near Beta Aquari
03:20  +3     Spor
03:25   0     PER     yellow; 1.5 sec. train
03:35  +1     Spor    yellow
Antihelion: none
Kappa Cygnid: none
Perseid: 0
Sporadic: -1, +1, +3
Total meteors: four

03:45-04:45; 62 deg F; wind N 5 mph; clear; average limiting magnitude 5.9;
facing East 50 degrees; Total teff 1.0 hour (6 jets/planes; 2 satellites)
Time   mag.  type   commnet
04:06   0    KCG    yellow
04:12  +4    Spor
04:13   0    PER    1 sec. train
04:32  +3    Spor
04:36  -2    ANT    orange; brief train
Antihelion: -2
Kappa Cygnid: 0
Perseid: 0
Sporadic: +3, +4
Total meteors: five


04:45-05:45; 60 deg F; wind N 5 mph; clear; average limiting magnitude 5.7; 
facing East 50 degrees; Total teff 1.0 hour (3 jets/planes; no satellites)
Time   mag.   type   comment
04:47  +1     KCG
04:57  +2     Spor
05:14  +4     Spor
Antihelion: none
Kappa Cygnid: +1
Perseid: none
Sporadic: +2, +4
Total meteors: three