I went to the Moosecreek site (dark sky site located about 60 km east of Ottawa, Ontario )on the evening of August 11 for a short meteor session, one night before the predicted peak. It was a very warm 26C, muggy and hazy night. No need for any sleeping bag or blanket; it was actually uncomfortably warm. The breeze kept the mosquitoes away. I expected to last only about an hour before clouds would move in. As it turned out, I was about to observe for three hours starting just before 11pm and going until about 2am EDT local time. The sky quality was very poor, with muted constellations near the horizons and many bright stars that were barely visible. The sky was only observable overhead but occasionally affected by a few passing clouds. Distant lightning would flash to the east.
I was still able to count 46 meteors (32 Perseids, 4 Kappa Cygnids, one alpha Capricornid, one anthelion, one Northern delta Aquariid, one Southern delta Aquariid and 6 sporadics). Perseids hourly rates were low at 5, 9 and 18, but that was expected with the poor sky conditions and the relatively low radiant. Some nice, long Perseids were seen, and the brighter ones made some pretty neat halos in the hazy sky. The best meteor was a +1 sporadic earthgrazer at 10:58pm that shot 60 degrees heading to the west, with a one second train! Another highlight was a -1 yellow sporadic at 1:38am that moved slowly, starting near Ursa Minor and ending in Cepheus. I packed it in just as the sky was clouding over for good.
August 11/12 2021, 02:43-05:55 UT (22:43-01:55 EDT)
Location: Moosecreek, Ontario, Canada
(Long: -75 deg 02′ 57″ West; Lat: 45 deg 15′ 13″ North)
IMO session: https://www.imo.net/members/imo_vmdb/view?session_id=82765
Observed showers:
August xi Draconids (AXD) – 18:30 (278) +46
kappa Cygnids (KCG) – 18:52 (283) +46
alpha Capricornids (CAP) – 20:42 (311) -07
Anthelion (ANT) – 21:52 (328) -13
Northern delta Aquariids (NDA) – 22:52 (343) -00
Southern delta Aquariids (SDA) – 23:02 (346) -15
Piscids Austrinids (PAU) – 23:36 (354) -20
Perseids (PER) – 02:50 (042) +57
eta Eridanids (ERI) – 02:51 (043) -12
02:43-03:47 UT (22:43-23:47 EDT); 1/5 trans; F 1.20; LM 5.44; facing NE70 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: five: -2; -1; +2; +3(2)
KCG: two: +2; +3
CAP: one: +4
NDA: one: +5
Sporadics: three: +1; +3; +4
Total meteors: Twelve
03:47-04:51 UT (23:47-00:51 EDT); 1/5 trans; F 1.25; LM 5.45; facing SE70 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: nine: +1(3); +2; +4(3); +5(2)
KCG: two: 0; +3
SDA: one: +2
Total meteors: Twelve
04:51-05:55 UT (00:51-01:55 EDT); 1/5 trans; F 1.06; LM 5.45; facing SE70 deg; teff 1.06 hr
PER: eighteen: -4; -2; -1(2); 0; +1; +2(2); +3(5); +4(4); +5
ANT: one: +3
Sporadics: three: -1; +2; +4
Total meteors: Twenty-two
Total meteors for this session: 46
