The next opportunity came a few nights later, when the sky cleared after a cold front swept through and a high pressure system started settling into Ontario.  I noticed that the sky would clear up completely at about midnight, so I went to Bootland Farm.

WOW!!!  The sky was fantastic and beyond my expectation!  The Milky Way was thick and structured!  The sky was full of faint stars, right up there among the best nights that I’ve seen at this location!  I quickly setup as several meteors were seen flying left and right.  An RASC member, Dan, joined in.  He arrived shortly after to observe meteors with me.

What a difference a few nights can make.  The Perseids were going on strong, and Dan noticed several meteors in all parts of the sky.  I signed on at 12:45am, and watched for 3 hours until near 4am.  Limiting mag 6.5-6.6.  I faced the south-east sky, looking halfway up.  This allowed to keep the Perseid radiant on the far left edge of my field of view, while being in a good position to view activity coming from the southern radiants.

In 3 hours time, I saw 116 meteors (breakdown: 58 Perseids, 11 South Delta Aquariids, 4 anthelions, 3 Eridanids, 2 Kappa Cygnids, 1 Capricornid, 1 North Delta Aquariid and 36 sporadics).  Perseids hourly rates were 17, 15 and 26.  A very active night with a lot of highlights!

The session definitely started with a bang!  Barely one minute into my watch, a monster mag -5 Perseid fireball came out of nowhere and shot over 30 degrees high in Pegasus, ending with a BRIGHT terminal flash!  WOW, a beauty!!!  It left a persistent train for 12 seconds!

Just four minutes later, another Perseid fireball, this time a -4, shot 30 degrees, ending near Mars.  This one left a 10 seconds train!

Then at 1:40am, a lovely -4 PER fireball shot 40 degrees in the south before flaring and leaving behind a 20 seconds train!

Later on, at 2:40am, a gorgeous -2 Eridanid earthgrazer climbed out of the south-east, persisting through a 50 degrees path!  It had a thick appearance and was vivid blue!  It may not have been as bright as the earlier fireballs, but it sure was beautiful!  Dan was impressed by this one.

Towards the end, at 3:41am, a long 30 degrees -3 Perseid with a 5 sec train delighted us yet again!

As if all this wasn’t enough, just as I signed-off, a -5 iridium satellite flare went by in Cygnus, bright enough to light up part of the sky.  What an entertaining night!!  I was surprised at the number of fireballs well before peak night.  I really enjoyed the meteor activity and Dan certainly agreed as well.  It was one of those nights that you wish it wouldn’t end!

August 9/10 2018, 04:45-07:50 UT (00:45-03:50 EDT)
Location: Bootland Farm (Stewartville), Ontario, Canada
(Long: -76 deg 29′; Lat: 45 deg 23′)

Observed showers:
kappa Cygnids (KCG) – 18:59 (285) +50
alpha Capricornids (CAP) – 21:10 (317) -05
Anthelion (ANT) – 22:08 (332) -12
Northern delta Aquariids (NDA) – 23:04 (346) +02
Southern Delta Aquariids (SDA) – 23:30 (353) -12
Piscids Austrinids (PAU) – 23:44 (356) -19
Perseids (PER) – 03:12 (048) +57
eta Eridanids (ERI) – 03:00 (045) -12

04:45-05:45 UT (00:45-01:45 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.54; facing SE50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: seventeen: -5; -4(2); +1(4); +2(2); +3(3); +4(4); +5
SDA: seven: +1; +3; +4(3); +5(2)
KCG: two: +2; +3
ANT: one: +3
Sporadics: ten: 0; +2; +4(4); +5(4)
Total meteors: Thirty-seven

05:45-06:45 UT (01:45-02:45 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.60; facing SE50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: fifteen: -1; 0(2); +1(2); +2(3); +3(4); +4(2); +5
ERI: two: -2; +3
CAP: one: +4
NDA: one: +3
SDA: one: +5
Sporadics: eleven: +3(2); +4(5) +5(4)
Total meteors: Thirty-one

06:45-07:50 UT (02:45-03:50 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.63; facing SE50 deg; teff 1.08 hr
PER: twenty-six: -3; 0(3); +1(2); +2(5); +3(5); +4(6); +5(3); +6
ANT: three: +2; +3(2)
SDA: three: +1; +3(2)
ERI: one: +1
Sporadics: fifteen: +2; +3(5); +4(6); +5(2); +6
Total meteors: Forty-eight

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario