(meteorobs) Obs: 10/11 Aug 2008 *

[pmartsching at mchsi.com]

11 Aug 2008 05:45 - 09:00 UT (3 five-minute breaks); (CDST 10/11 Aug 
12:45-4:00am) 

Paul Martsching
McFarland Park 4 miles NE of Ames, Story County, Iowa
Long: 93 deg 34 min W  Lat: 42 deg 05 min N  Elevation: ~1,040 feet
Method: Visual; paper, pencil & talking clock

Perhaps a bit of diffuse haze during the first hour.  Sky glow over Ames in SW
and Story City in N unusually bright, but no obvious clouds.  During the second
hour the average limiting magnitude wasn't much worse.  A fairly small (10 X 40
degrees) cloud slowly crossed my field of view from 2:40-2:55 going SW to NE.
Sky glow began to be noticeable over Nevada to the SE.  During the third hour
large patches and streaks of haze/thin fog/very thin cloud moving thru almost
continually along with almost constant cloud low in the North.  I made magnitude
guesstimates and percent cloud cover estimates every five minutes and averaged
the lot.  After 4:00 am conditions worsened and I finally gave up and went home
at 4:15 am.  There was no evidence of ground fog on the way home.  Will probably
be clouded out tomorrow morning.  Oh, well-----

05:45-06:45; 58 degrees F; calm; "clear"; average limiting magnitude 5.7, but
unusually bright sky glow over Ames-SW and Story City-N; facing NE 45 degrees;
total teff 1.0 hour 
Time   mag.   type   comment
05:47   0     ANT    yellow
05:55  -3     Spor   yellow; 2 second train; near Mirfak > into Cepheus
05:58  +4     PER
05:59  +3     Spor
06:01   0     PER    yellow; train
06:04  +5     PER
06:16  +2     PER
06:17  +2     PER
06:19   0     CAP    yellow
06:34  +1     PER    yellow
06:35  +3     PER
06:36  +1     PER    yellow
06:40  -2     ANT    yellow
06:43  +3     Spor 
Antihelion: two: -2; 0
Capricornid: one: 0
Kappa Cygnid: none
Perseids: eight: 0; +1(2); +2(2); +3; +4; +5
Sporadics: three: -3; +3(2)
Total meteors: fourteen

06:50-07:50; 57 deg F; calm; "clear" but bright sky glow over Ames and Story
City and by end of this hour also over Nevada in SE; one smallish cloud passed
thru field of view during last 15 minutes; aver.lim.mag. 5.6; facing ENE 50
degrees; total teff 1.0 hour
Time   mag.   type   comment
06:54   0     PER    1 second train
06:58  +2     Spor
07:15  +1     PER    yellow
07:23  +3     Spor
07:23  +2     PER    orange
07:27  +4     PER
07:28  +3     Spor
07:30  +2     PER
07:31   0     PER    yellow; 1 second train
07:34  +2     PER    train
07:37  +4     Spor
07:40  +5     PER
07:41  +1     PER    yellow; train
07:42  -3     PER    yellow; 1 second train
07:43  +2     PER    yellow
07:47  +3     PER    yellow
07:47  +2     PER    train
07:51  -1     PER    yellow; train
07:54  +4     Spor
07:54  +3     PER
Antihelion: none
Capricornid: none
Kappa Cygnid: none
Perseids: fifteen: -3; -1; 0(2); +1(2); +2(5); +3(2); +4; +5
Sporadics: five: +2; +3(2); +4(2)
Total meteors: twenty

08:00-09:00; 56 deg F; calm; frequent patches of haze/thin fog/very thin cloud
moving thru field of view; average 10% dense cloud obstruction in field of view
- mostly low in North; average limiting magnitude 5.0; facing ENE 50 degrees;
total teff 1.0 hour
Time   mag.   type   comment
08:07  +5     PER    sometimes considerable "clear" areas between clouds/haze
08:14  +2     PER
08:14  +3     PER
08:17  +3     PER
08:17  +1     PER    yellow
08:30  +3     PER
08:31  +4     PER
08:36  -2     PER    yellow; 1 second train
08:41  +1     Spor   train
08:44  +4     PER
08:49   0     PER    1 second train
08:49  +3     Spor
08:50  +3     PER
08:53  -2     PER    yellow; 1 second train
08:54  +3     PER
08:56  +3     PER
08:56  +4     PER
08:57  -1     PER    1 second train
Antihelion: none
Capricornid: none
Kappa Cygnid: none
Perseids: sixteen: -2(2); -1; 0; +1; +2; +3(6); +4(3); +5
Sporadics: two: +1; +3
Total meteors: eighteen