I have been waiting for the moon to pass its last quarter phase so I can catch some of the mid-July activity. Unfortunately our area has been plagued by clouds so I had to wait until this morning to finally get a peak at the meteor activity. The sky was mediocre and very hazy, especially in the west toward San Diego. I decided to face southward to catch some of the early activity in that part of the sky. Activity started slow but picked up toward the bottom of the first hour. There was another long lull of activity centered at 10 UT (2am PDT). The remainder of the watch was pretty slow but without long periods of inactivity.
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The highlight of the the night was an impressive zero magnitude eta Eridanid (ERI) the shot upward toward though Pegasus and extinguished just before reaching Cygnus. It had a nice one second train that made tracing the path much easier.
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The one north delta Aquariid (NDA) was slow, dim, and close to the radiant. I was looking right at it so I’m confident of the association. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed but this radiant picks up right where the northern June Aquilids (NZC) leave off. They have nearly identical characteristics so we may be dealing with one shower with a long duration.
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The two c-Andromedids (CAN) were a surprise, seen near the end of the watch. They both missed the current Perseid radiant by a wide swath and lined up well with the current predicted radiant near the star tau Persei. Good thing they shot southward or I would have missed them entirely.
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It was nice to see the bright stars of Orion once again, rising in the east during the brightening dawn. I also look forward to seeing Sirius again toward the end of the month.
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The forecast for tonight and the next few nights is not encouraging with tropical moisture predicted to move up from Mexico. As I look outside near sunset, the sky is clear and promising. If it’s clear, I will be out.
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Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 17- Jul 23 Mean Solar Long: 120.520
Beginning Time (UT) 0900 Ending Time (UT) 1200
Total TeFF: 3.00

LOCATION: Blossom Valley, CA, USA
LONG: 116 51′ 37″ W LAT: 32 51′ 44″ N
Elevation: 304 m Bortle Scale: Class 5: Suburban Sky
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 67F-78%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 66F-83%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape/Video Recording
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Showers Observed
CAN  02:56 (044) +53  00-00-02    2 Total
CAP  19:56 (299) -11   01-01-00    2 Total

ERI   01:52 (028)  -18   00-01-00    1 Total
NDA 21:48 (327)  -06   01-00-00    2 Total
PER  01:12 (018) +52   02-00-01    1 Total
SDA  22:16 (334) -19   02-00-00    2 Total
SPO                                03-05-02  10 Total
Hourly Counts              09-07-05  21 Total
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Period 1   0900-1000 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 5.86
FOV 330 +00   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 120.480
METEOR DATA:

CAP 1, NDA 1, PER 2, SDA 2, SPO 3  TOTAL 9

Magnitude Distribution
CAP  -1 (1)   Mean -1.00
NDA +4 (1)  Mean +4.00

PER  +1 (1) +4 (1) Mean +2.50
SDA  +3 (1) +4 (1) Mean +3.50
SPO  0 (12) +3 (1) +4 (1)  Mean + 2.33
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Period 2   1000-1100 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 5.70
FOV 345 +00   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 120.520
METEOR DATA:
ERI 1, CAP 1, SPO 5  TOTAL 7

Magnitude Distribution

ERI    0 (1)  Mean +0.00
CAP +2 (1)  Mean +2.00
SPO +3 (3) +4 (1) +5 (1)  Mean + 3.60
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Period 3   1100-1200 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 5.64
FOV 000 +00   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 120.560
METEOR DATA:
CAN 2, PER 1, SPO 2  TOTAL 5

Magnitude Distribution

CAN +2 (1) +3 (1)  Mean +2.50
PER +3 (1)  Mean +3.00
SPO +3 (2)  Mean +3.00
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Total Magnitude Distribution

CAN +2 (1) +3 (1)  Mean +2.50
CAP –1 (1) +2 (1)  Mean +0.50
ERI    0 (1)              Mean +0.00
NDA  +4 (1)          Mean + 4.00
PER  +1 (1) +3 (1) +4 (1) Mean +2.67
SDA  +3 (1) +4 (1) Mean +3.50
SPO  0 (1) +3 (6) +4 (2) +5 (1)  Mean + 3.10