I nearly skipped the following night because the sky took a lot longer to clear and I was tired from all the observing.  But it was finally looking like the west end would clear up at about 2am.  I’m very glad I took a chance and went!  When I arrived at Bootland, the sky was a glorious canopy of stars all over; the clearest sky since August 9!  The sky transparency was above-average transparency (4/5) and the Milky Way was thick and structured.  Temperature a little cooler too at 14C.  It was also one of those rare dry nights with almost no dew or fog.  I signed on at 2:25am and watched for 2 hours until dawn.  I saw 64 meteors (breakdown: 27 Perseids, 8 Eridanids, 4 South Delta Aquariids, 2 North Delta Aquariids, 1 Kappa Cygnid, 1 Antihelion and 21 sporadics).

The highlight was actually just a few minutes after I signed off.  I took one last glance at the sky, and I saw a very slow Capricornid earthgrazer, mag +1, blue white with a nice “tail” behind the meteor.

I find meteor rates are especially quite a bit better when the sky is very clear!

August 15/16 2018, 06:25-08:30 UT (02:25-04:30 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
Antihelion (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

06:25-07:25 UT (02:25-03:25 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.58; facing SSE50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: fourteen: 0; +1(3); +2(2); +3(3); +4(4); +5
ERI: two: +4(2)
KCG: one: +2
NDA: one: +4
Sporadics: eleven: +1; +2; +3(3); +4(2); +5(3); +6
Total meteors: Twenty-nine

07:25-08:30 UT (03:25-04:30 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.58; facing SSE50 deg; teff 1.07 hr
PER: thirteen: +1; +2(5); +3(3); +4(3): +5
ERI: six: +2; +4(2); +5(3)
SDA: four: +2; +3; +4(2)
NDA: one: +4
ANT: one: +6
Sporadics: ten: 0; +1(2); +2; +4(2); +5(3); +6
Total meteors: Thirty-five

Clear skies,

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario