(meteorobs) Meteor Report: August 11/12, 2008 (DAVMA)

[meteors at comcast.net]

Even though the moon was still above the horizon, I was excited to begin 
observing at 0104 local time under perfectly clear skies. This first 
hour of early observing resulted in 5 PER and 5 SPO. I was a bit 
distracted as I came under attack by some sort of cricket-sized insects. 
At one point, one even landed on the tip of my nose - but no harm done!

As I approached the end of my second hour of observing, clouds began to 
arrive, ending my session at 0259 local time. I used this opportunity to 
take a break and munch on some crackers, and was able to begin observing 
again at 0320 local time, under 10% cloudy skies.

The Perseids produced a little less activity than I expected. This may 
have been due to the poor limiting magnitudes I encountered during the 
morning. In the summer, the atmosphere scatters more light than in the 
winter and so is always a problem. Just like the "clumps" Anthony noted 
from Florida, I made notes to myself during the morning that the 
Perseids seemed to arrive in groups followed by several minutes of no 
activity at all from them. The highlight of the morning came at 0734 UT 
when 3 Perseids appeared at once. At the moment a 3rd magnitude Perseid 
faded, a 0 and 2 magnitude appeared, almost from the same location and 
at right angles to each other.

I guess luck was with me as the rain held off till 10 am this morning! 
Below is my report:

*****************************
NAMN Visual Observing Report:
*****************************

Aug 11/12, 2008  Begin: 0604 UT  End: 0907 UT
Mark Davis (DAVMA)  Francis Marion National Forest, SC, USA
79o 44' 47" W,  33o 05' 06" N, h=10m,  IMO Code: 25120

Observed Showers:
ANT 332 -09
KCG 284 +58
PER 046 +58

UT TIME     Field   Teff   F     LM   ANT  KCG  PER  SPO
0604-0704  355 +00  1.00  1.00  4.66   1    0    5    4
0704-0759  005 +00  0.92  1.00  5.08   0    0    20   7
0820-0907  015 -05  0.78  1.11  5.08   0    1    12   6

/ denotes shower not observed; 0 denotes no members observed
Dead Time: 5 seconds/meteor


MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS: (m)n
ANT: (0)1
KCG: (+1)1
PER: (-1)3; (0)2; (+1)7; (+2)8; (+3)7 (+4)10
SPO: (-3)1; (0)1; (+1)6; (+2)3; (+3)5 (+4)1

Notes:
Break in observation from 0759-0820 UT due to clouds exceeding 20% field
of view.


<END OF REPORT>