I woke at 2330 PDT and looked outside at totally overcast skies. I couldn’t have been happier as I knew these low level clouds along the coast would act as a shield and provide me with darker skies from my mountain site some 80km east of San Diego. It took me 30 minutes to load the truck and I was on my way near midnight. The clouds began to break near the 600m marker and by another 300m it was totally clear. I saw my first meteor as I drove past my Alpine site, which has a great southern horizon but a poor northern one. I was driving to the western slopes of Mt. Laguna, overlooking the little town of Pine Valley. When I arrived there were scattered cars where people were hoping to catch a few meteors. The sky was perfectly clear and dark. There was still an obvious light dome 10 degrees high in the NW (Los Angeles). The San Diego light dome was effectively muted by the clouds but still there. The Milky Way could be traced down to about 10 degrees high above it. The eastern portion of the sky was awesome as the hills to the east blocked any light from the desert communities.

I started counting at 0100 PDT. There was a breeze out of the southeast which made the temperature of 19C seem a bit cooler. A blanket was needed to keep comfortable. The breeze was off and on all morning long. It never was bothersome and probably kept the mosquitoes away as I heard only 1 buzzer all morning long. There as no bothersome dew as the humidity was only 29%. Meteor activity generally increased as the morning progressed. I noticed a dip in the Perseid activity during the second hour but a surge in the sporadic activity made up for that. I was facing due north at an elevation of 50 degrees. The northern radiants were within my field of view plus I could distinguish those strikingly fast meteors shooting northward from Eridanus. The other southern radiants were way behind me so I couldn’t distinguish the activity from the CAP’S, ANT’S, or the SDA’s. Any meteor entering my field of view from the south and southwest was called a sporadic.

The first meteor of the night was a nice, bright and slow Kappa Cygnid. Unfortunately it would be the only one I would see. The Perseids did not impress me with bright meteors until the last hour before dawn. There were often long gaps in the activity which was frustrating. It just made no sense at times to go 5 and 6 minutes without seeing a meteors under such splendid skies. I kept an eye out for possible beta Perseids and only recorded 2 possible members during my 3rd hour. The most impressive meteor of the night was not the brightest. It only peaked at 2nd magnitude but lasted several seconds as it slowly moved upward from the northern horizon and extinguished in Ursa Minor.

It was great to get out again under truly dark skies. It had been nearly 4 months since my last opportunity to view from here. The forecast appears promising for tonight so I look forward to seeing many more meteors.

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Observer: Robert Lunsford (LUNRO)
Date: 16-Aug 11 Mean Solar Long: 138.394
Beginning Time (UT) 0800 Ending Time (UT) 1200
Total TeFF: 4.00

LOCATION: Pine Valley Viewpoint, CA, USA
LONG: 116 29′ 43″ W LAT: 32 49′ 49″ N
Elevation: 1300m Bortle Scale: Class 3: Rural Sky
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 19-29%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 17-44%
METHOD: Visual Recording on Tape
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Showers Observed
BPE 03:16 (049) +37 00-00-02-00 2 Total
ERI 03:00 (045) –10 01-03-03-03 10 Total
KCG 18:20 (275) +55 01-00-00-00 1 Total
PER 03:08 (047) +57 24-22-27-37 110 Total
SPO 04-16-11-13 44 Total
Hourly Counts 30-41-43-53 167 Total
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Period 1 0800-0900 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.72
FOV 330 +70 TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 138.866

Meteor Data BPE 0, ERI 1, KCG 1, PER 24, SPO 4 TOTAL 30

Magnitude Distribution
ERI +2 (1) Mean +2.00
KCG +1 (1) Mean +1.00
PER -1 (2) 0 (2) +1 (2) +2 (7) +3 (5) +4 (4) +5 (2) Mean +2.29
SPO –1 (1) +2 (1) +4 (2) Mean + 2.25
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Period 2 0900-1000 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds) Mean LM 6.63
FOV 345 +70 TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 138.906

Meteor Data BPE 0, ERI 3, KCG 0, PER 22, SPO 16 TOTAL 41

Magnitude Distribution
ERI +2 (2) +3 (1) Mean +2.33
PER -3 (1) 0 (1) +1 (6) +2 (5) +3 (4) +4 (4) +6 (1) Mean +2.14
SPO +1 (1) +2 (2) +3 (6) +4 (5) +5 (2) Mean +3.31
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Period 3   1000-1100 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.55
FOV 000 +70   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 138.946

Meteor Data: BPE 2, ERI 3, KCG 0, PER 27, SPO 11  TOTAL 43

Magnitude Distribution

BPE +3 (1) +5 (1)  Mean +4.00

ERI    0 (1) +1 (1) +3 (1)  Mean +1.33
PER  -1 (1) 0 (3) +1 (3) +2 (7) +3 (6) +4 (5) +5 (2)  Mean +2.37
SPO  0 (1) +1 (1) +3 (2) +4 (6) +6 (1)  Mean +3.36
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Period 4   1100-1200 UT
F = 1.00 (0% Clouds)   Mean LM 6.40

FOV 015 +70   TOTAL TeFF: 1.00
Mean Solar Long: 138.986

Meteor Data: BPE 0, ERI 3, KCG 0, PER 37, SPO 13  TOTAL 53

Magnitude Distribution

ERI  +1 (1) +2 (2)  Mean +1.67
PER  -5 (1) -4 (1) –2 (1) -1 (2) 0 (1) +1 (5) +2 (7) +3 (11) +4 (8)  Mean +1.92
SPO  +1 (2) +2 (4)+3 (3) +4 (3) +6 (1)  Mean +2.85

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Total Magnitude Distribution
BPE +3 (1) +5 (1)  Mean +4.00
ERI    0 (1) +1 (2) +2 (5) +3 (2)  Mean +1.80
PER  -5 (1) –4 (1) –3 (1) -1 (5) 0 (7) +1 (16) +2 (26) +3 (26) +4 (21) +5 (4) +6 (1)  Mean +2.15
SPO  -1 (1) 0 (1) +1 (4) +2 (7) +3 (11) +4 (16) +5 (2) +6 (2)  Mean +3.09