(meteorobs) Perseids clouded out in Alberta

[Bruce McCurdy]

Not much luck here in central Alberta, unfortunately. We had a nice big sucker hole around 8 p.m. MDT but it started to fill in around sunset. There was broken cloud thereafter, featuring much more cloud than breaks. I did spot a -1 beauty span the Little Dipper from my front yard. A little before 2 a.m. MDT (8h UT), I spotted a possible sucker hole to the north so drove outside the city in that direction with my wife in a valiant if vain attempt to observe the predicted activity surge. We found a fairly decent spot with no direct light trespass and a clear view to the north, but alas the hole filled in very quickly. Over ~40 minutes of observing, Anna saw 4 meteors including 2 bright ones which were *just* outside of my field of view. I saw just 1 certain Perseid and one suspect through clouds. 

Oh well, as the former Edmontonian Wayne Gretzky  famously remarked, "100% of the shots you don't take, don't score a goal". At least we tried. 

Off to Saskatchewan bright and early (ugh), and will try to do some post-peak observing from Cypress Hills Dark Sky Preserve. It may, however, take a while to report. 

Bruce
*****