Greetings again all,
    The night had been shrouded in overcast up until after 1:00 a.m. EDT, but my gamble to travel down to trusty Matanzas Inlet anyway, paid off once again for sure. Our weather pattern this summer has been remarkable and consistent – crystal clear blue sky days, cloudy, overcast evenings and finally clearing away nicely after midnight .  Virtually no rain has fallen either.
    Here’s my data from the two hour counting session:
Here’s my data:
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 28/29 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: 6.9, clear, Facing: east
0115 – 0215 EDT (0515 – 0615 UT), Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks
13 SDA: +1, +2(2), +3(4), +4(4), +5
1 ANT: +3
1 PAU: +3
1 PER: +4
1 GDR: +2
 7 SPO: +2, +3(2). +4(2), +5(2)
24 total meteors
6 of the 24 meteors (4 of the SDAs and the GDR) left trains. Yellow was noted in couple of the brighter SDAs.
Session Two:

July 28/29, 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).

 

0215 – 0315 EDT (0615 – 0715 UT) Teff: 1.0 hour, No breaks, LM: 6.9, Clear, except for some very slight haze near the horizons

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

5 PER: 0, +1, +3(2), +4 

2 CAP: +2, +4

2 GDR: +1, +3

9 SPO: -5, +2(2), +3(2), +4(2), +5(2)

35 total meteors

13 of the 35 meteors (6 of the SDAs, the -5 SPO, 3 PERs, 2 other SPOs and a GDR) left trains. Yellow was noted in couple of the brighter SDAs and PERs and the -5 fireball was a vivid turquoise in color.

Overall it was an eclectic night to say the least!  I helped a group of flounder fishermen from Lake City, Florida find assistance when they locked their keys in their truck and were stranded in the parking lot next to me for three hours!  I think I may have  converted them to meteor watchers as well with all the ones they saw while awaiting help to come.  They were a cool bunch of guys who handled their misfortune very well indeed!

My fellow ACAC observing partner Jeff Corder joined me again and we watched a beautiful bright limb occultation of Aldebaran by the 24% sunlit waning crescent moon – that was an unexpected treat to say the least.

Combined with the 3 nice GDRs, all the SDAs, PERs and the -5 SPO fireball skimming along the NW horizon, this was a session that was quite unusual to say the least.  It’s amazing to me to see and experience how much goes in the wee hours of the morning when most folks are sound asleep!!

More later, Paul J in North Florida