(meteorobs) July 14/15 2016 meteor observations from North Florida - Double WOW!

[Paul Jones]

Greetings again all,
     Well, for seemingly the umpteenth time in a row, I awoke to perfect
post-midnight skies this morning.  The run of high pressure we've been
having here in North Florida lately has been amazing to say the least.  I
only hope it can keep it up for awhile longer...;o).

      Once again, I ventured over to Butler Beach to catch the pre-dawn
meteor action and was not at all disappointed!  Upon arrival, however, I
discovered that even Butler Beach is not totally free from outside
distractions.  There was a shrimp boat just offshore, slowly trawling back
and forth for shrimp with all its onboard lights blazing.   It looked for
all the world like a small floating city out there, just past the
breakers!  I had to position my knee to block out its lights - sort of like
an eclipse or an occultation...;o).  Finally, it moved off and took its
lights with it.

      Then just as the shrimp boat "city of lights" lumbered off, a
thunderstorm on the southern horizon fired up and began to shoot bright
flashes of lightning all over the sky every couple of minutes.  That went
of for about twenty more minutes, so the start of my watch was not
memorable by any means.

      I persevered though and when everything finally settled down around
me, the meteors began to kick in big time!  I had almost 50 of my 55
meteors seen during the 90 minutes from 3:30 a.m. to 5:00 a,m,  That's
better than 1 every two minutes for over an hour and a half!!  Shoot, even
some major meteor showers at maximum can't even do that!

Here's the data:

Observed for radiants:

CAP - alpha Capricornids
SCA_ sigma Capricornids
JPE - July Pegasids
PPS - pi Piscids
CAN - C Andromedids
ANT - Anthelions
PER - Perseids
PSA: psi Cassiopeids
SDA: South delta Aquariids


July 14/15 2016, observer: Paul Jones, Location: Butler Beach, Florida
(about three miles south of St. Augustine, Beach, Florida), Lat: 29.79 N,
Long: 81.26 W., LM: 6.5, clear, Facing: east

0300 - 0400 EDT (0700 - 0800 UT), Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks
2 PER: +1, +4
2 PPS: +2(2)
1 PSA: +3
1 CAP: +1
1 SCA: +3
1 SDA: +3
2 JPE: +3, +4
1 ANT: +4
 10 SPO: +1, +2, +3(5). +4(2), +5
22 total meteors

6 of the 22 meteors left trains, the CAP and the SCA were golden yellow.


0400 - 0500 EDT (0800 - 0900 UT), Teff: 1.0 hour, No Breaks
6 PER: 0, +1, +2 +3(2), +5
4 JPE: 0, +2, +3(2)
2 PPS: +1, +4
2 SDA: +2, +3
1 CAP: +2
1 PSA: +4
1 ANT: +3
16 SPO: +1(2), +2(2), +3(5). +4(4), +5(3)
33 total meteors

10 of the 33 meteors left trains, the 0 magnitude JPE and the +1 PPS were
both blue-white in color and left glowing trains behind them.  The brighter
PERs were yellow in color.

     I really did have a hard time keeping track of the data for awhile
there this morning.  They came in bunches at some points and all over the
sky from horizon to horizon.  I barely had time to evaluate a meteor for a
radiant line up quite often before I'd see one or even two more right after
it.   Usually, it is a major shower max when this happens, like the PER or
GEM max and you know they are mostly all from the same radiant.

     Not so this morning though, I would see one I'd have to evaluate for
one radiant or another, then see another one that may have come from a
different radiant or even none of them! My ID calls were backing up two or
three meteors deep a few times there.  Never have I had that happen before
that I can remember.   The whole sky got into the act as well.  I was
picking most of the PERs off the NW and N horizons.  It was like meteor
anarchy up there...;o)!

     I plan to squeeze this opportunity right to the max in the morning as
moonset is around 0345 EDT.  That gives me another 90 minutes of dark sky
action once again!  I'll let you know it goes.

Clear skies all, Paul J in North Florida
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