(meteorobs) July 30/31 2016 meteor observations from North Florida - and the beat goes on...

[Paul Jones]

Greetings yet again all,
  It's kind of hard to believe with all the clear nights we've had lately,
but last night might have been the best of them all for most of the night!
The ACAC's monthly star party was a smash hit earlier in the evening as
members and guests enjoyed telescopic views of Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, the
famous double star Albireo and several Messier objects.

   In between, we caught several lovely CAPs, including a gorgeous -2
orange beauty that broke up and flared several times on its path!  Wow!
Then we went over to Butler Beach and observed for another hour or so
seeing many more meteors of all types and enjoying each other's company and
the gentle sounds of the surf and the sea breezes.

   We finally adjourned the star party a bit after 1:00 a.m. and I
continued on by cruising down to Matanzas Inlet for yet more meteor
watching under spectacular clear and pitch black skies.  The stars looked
like hundreds of glittering diamonds strewn across an inky, jet black
background when I got down there!  It was breathtaking!  The likes of which
I have never seen better from anywhere on Earth.

    I could easily see with the naked eye, dozens of etched and mottled
dark dust lanes in the Milky Way superimposed across partially resolved
star clouds, giving an almost 3D type effect visually.  It was like that
all along the length of it, from horizon to horizon!  I was speechless!
Such is the clarity potential of the full-fledged, maximum strength Bermuda
High and enough distance away from man-made light pollution!

    Needless to say, meteors were jumping out all over the sky and just ten
minutes after I started, a bright yellow, -5  SDA fireball dropped into the
southern horizon no more than three degrees up.  About ten minutes later, a
 bright blue, -2 PER streaked across Lyra, passing almost right over Vega,
leaving behind a five second train etched on the sky!  I was on major
league sensory pumped up overload by then!

Here's my results:

CAP - alpha Capricornids
JPE - July Pegasids
ANT - Anthelions
PER - Perseids
SDA: South delta Aquariids
PAU - Piscids Austrinids
GDR - July gamma Draconids
BPE - beta Perseids

Session One:
July 30/31 2016, observer: Paul Jones, Location: North Bank of Matanzas
Inlet, Florida, Lat: 29.75N, Long: 81.24W (approximately 18 miles south of
St. Augustine, Florida).LM: 7.0, clear, Facing: west

0150 - 0250 EDT (0550 - 0650 UT), Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks

18 SDA: -5, 0, +1(2), +2(3), +3(5), +4(3), +5(2), +6
4 PER: -2, +1, +2, +3
3 CAP: +1, +2, +3
2 ANT: +4, +5
14 SPO: +2, +3(3). +4(5), +5(3), +6(2)
41 total meteors

14 of the 41 meteors (8 of the SDAs, 3 of the PERs, 1 CAP and 2 SPOs) left
trains. Yellow was noted in couple of the brighter SDAs and CAPs and blue
in the -2 PER..


Session Two:

July 30/31, 2016 Observer: Paul Jones, Location: North Bank of Matanzas
Inlet, Florida, Lat: 29.75N, Long: 81.24W (approximately 18 miles south of
St. Augustine, Florida).



0225 – 0325 EDT (0625 – 0725 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 7.0, Clear,
except for some slight haze near the end of the hour.


15 SDA: -3, 0, +1(2) +2(3), +3(3), +4(3), +5(2)

7 PER: 0, +2(2), +3(3), +4,

2 CAP: 0. +2

1 GDR: +2

1 ANT: +3

11 SPO: +1, +2, +3(2), +4(4), +5(3)

37 total meteors


13 of the 37 meteors (6 of the SDAs, 3 PERs, 1 CAP and 3 SPO) left trains.
Yellow was noted in couple of the brighter SDAs CAPs and PERs.


    Seventy-eight meteors in just two hours!   Toward the end of the second
hour, haze and bright flashes of lightning from a pop up thunderstorm to
the west, quickly degraded the pristine skies.  It just goes to show how
fast conditions can change around here!  All that interference and my
growing tiredness convinced me reluctantly that it was time to pack it up.


     But not before I had a busy second hour that featured another bright
yellow SDA, this one a -3 dropping into the SW horizon - again, not more
than 3 degrees above the horizon.  I had another nice GDR ad several lovely
PERs as well. Also, we all had seen a lovely +1 GDR casually earlier in the
evening during the star party.


     It's back to work (and reality) for me tomorrow, but I do plan to hit
a couple of pre-dawns this week to monitor the PER build up.  More to
follow...


Clear skies all, Paul J in North Florida
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