(meteorobs) Obs: 19/20 August Iowa

[Paul Martsching]

I went out for a while before the clouds moved in hoping to see some Kappa Cygnids.  I saw only three KCG's in four hours: mag. - 1; +1(2).  The two best meteors of the session: - 4 orange ANT and - 4 yellow PER with 2 second train.  

McFarland Park 4 miles NE of Ames, Story Co, Iowa.  Long: 93 deg 34 min W; Lat: 452 deg 05 min N; Elevation (Adams Observatory "hump" 1,043 feet; parking lot 1,030 feet).

20 Aug 2014 0230-0330 UT 67 deg F; dew pt 65 deg F; wind calm; clear; LM 5.5; still some twilight in West; facing East 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
ANT: one: - 2 (yellow)
KCG: none
PER: none
Sporadics: three: +2; +3(2)
Total meteors: four

20 Aug 2014 0330-0430 UT 66 deg F; dew pt 65 deg F; wind calm; clear; some horizon haze; LM 5.6; facing East 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
ANT: none
KCG: none
PER: two: - 2; +3
Sporadics: three: +2; +3(2)
Total meteors: five

20 Aug 2014 0430-0530 UT 64 deg F; dew pt 63 deg F; wind calm; clear; some horizon haze; LM 5.6; facing ENE 50 deg; teff 1.0 hour.
ANT: one: - 4 (orange)
KCG: one: - 1
PER: two: +2; +4
Sporadics: three: +2; +3(2)
Total meteors: seven

At 0523 a DOT road work crew with extremely bright lights showed up on I 35 to the SE so at 0530 I moved to the Conservation Center parking lot to face North (10 minute break).

20 Aug 2014 0540-0640 UT 63 deg F; dew pt 62 deg F; wind calm; some patches of small clouds moving thru; during first 45 minutes I was able to keep these out of my FOV by facing anywhere between North and Northeast, what ever direction was best at the time; during the last 15 minutes the clouds couldn't be avoided so average cloud cover in FOV for the hour was five percent; LM 5.7; facing N to NE 50 degrees; teff 1.0 hour.
ANT: none
KCG: two: +1(2)
PER: four: - 4; - 1; +2; +3
Sporadics: six: - 1; +1(3); +3(2)
Total meteors: twelve

I stayed awhile longer, but conditions rapidly worsened.  There was considerable general fog on the drive home.