(meteorobs) July 28/29, 2013 observing session from north Florida

[Paul Jones]

Greetings list,
    I don't know if it was all the talk about Perseid fireballs that got me
going, but I decided to get out last night for the last full dark
hour before the moon rose.   I wasn't expecting to see very much, but once
again, Mother Nature had a few tricks up her sleeve, although it was too
early in the evening and too far from max to see any PERs.
   The skies finally began to clear off from earlier thunderstorms about
10:30 p.m. local, so I signed on at 11:15 p.m. EDT and went for a bit over
an hour before the 63% sunlit moon rose around 12:18 p.m.  Skies were still
a bit hazy from the remains of the cirrus outflow with the LM only about
5.5 at the start, improving to about 5.9 at the end, but that didn't deter
me a bit as it turned out.
   All told, I came away with 16 meteors in just over an hour, including 3
south delta Aquariids, 3 alpha Caps, 2 ANTs and 8 sporadics.  That's about
twice as many total meteors as I was expecting to see!   Here's the data:

Observer: Paul Jones, Location: 5 miles SW of St. Augustine, Florida, LM:
5.5 to 5.9 (slight cirrus haze), Facing: south.
July 28/29, 2013, 2315 - 0020 EDT (0315 - 0420 UT), Teff: 1.1 hours, no
breaks
3 south delta Aquariids (SDA)
3 alpha Capricornids (CAP)
2 Anthelions (ANT)
8 sporadics (SPO)
16 total meteors

Mags:
SDA: +2 (1), +3 (1), +4 (1)
CAP: +2 (1), +3 (1), +4 (1)
ANT: +3 (1), +4 (1)
SPO: +3 (2), +4 (4), +5 (2)

Although none of the meteors I saw were very bright, there were still a few
highlights.  The +2 CAP was a lovely yellow color in Aquila and the +2 SDA
left a nice train as it shot NW through Ophiuchus.  I also had a very slow
moving SPO in northern Sagittarius that had a "sparkly" appearance to it.
It looked almost as if someone was holding up a sparkler across the sky!
The hour ended in a bit of a rush as I had a nice SDA and then a nice CAP
right behind it both shoot out of their respective radiants going due north
about five seconds apart.  I was sad the moon was rising as I didn't really
want to stop observing!
I'm keeping all fingers and toes crossed for everyone on the upcoming PER
max.  Stay tuned...;o).

Clear skies all, Paul in north Florida
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