(meteorobs) 1st Observations Of August

Here are my first observations of August 1999, not a good vintage so far but OK as far as quality of meteors goes. I could only do a short watch last night before midnight as the moon rose about 23:45 local time and besides we had thunder storms most of the day and the atmosphere was saturated which with the declining evening temperatures meant heavy dew and an atmosphere that got steadily more murky as the time went on, this was only compensated by the deepening darkness of the sky. I have reported my obervations in BAA format (extracted directly from the report sheet) so you can see how the BAA Meteor section works.

Date:3rd /4th August 199 Observer(s): David M. Swain
Observing Site: 51o 42' 12"N 1o 56' 20" W Height 110 metres
Correspondence Address: Dormans, Preston, Cirencester, Glos, GL7 5PR
Observing Conditions: Cloudless sky but damp atmosphere Stellar Lim. Mag.: +5.2/5.3
Watch Times: Start: 21:40h End: 22:55h Duration: 1h 08m

1   21:45 +2   SPO     Cyg                      Very short 0.25o path
2   21:47 +2   PER     And, Lac, Cyg, Vul, Del  Limiting Magnitude +5.2
3   21:51 +3   PER     Cas, Cep
4   22:02 +4   SPO     Lac, And
5   22:10 -1   SPO     Cas                      Quick, White
6   22:12 +3   SPO     Cas, Cep
7   22:19 +4   SPO     And, Peg
8   22:20 0   CAP     Aqr, Equ, Peg            Slow, Orange
9   22:29 +4   SPO     Cyg, Peg
10 22:32 +2   SPO     Psc
11 22:36 -2   SPO     And, Peg, Equ, Aqr       Yellow, Quick
12 22:41 +2   SPO     Lac, Cep, Umi, Cam, Dra
13 22:45 0   SPO     And                      Limiting Magnitude +5.3
                                                Moonrise and Haze

As you can see it's not a bad total for an hour or so soon after sunset and meteor 11 was really nice as it streaked directly across my central vision. The Capricornid (meteor 8) was slow and stately as I remember the Cap's with an orange tinge all along it's 30 degree of so of track.