On the night of August 4/5, I returned to Bootland Farm to join Dan Vasiu who was also there to observe meteors.  We arrived together at about 11pm, near moonset.  The sky was much better than the previous session, even though a thin smoke haze was still a bit present.  The transparency improved to above-average after midnight.

I observed from 11:20pm to 4:30am (5 hours); a very productive night!  I saw 122 meteors (32 Perseids, 20 Southern Delta Aquariids, 6 kappa Cygnids, 6 alpha Capricornids, 6 anthelions, 5 Northern delta Aquariids, 3 Piscids Austrinids, 3 eta Eridanids, 3 49-Andromedids and 38 sporadics).

The hourly meteor rates were pretty much what I’d expect for this time of the year; a lot of action all over the sky!  Nearly every showers active produced activity.  In particular, I was surprised to see the three PAUs.  This radiant is so low in the south at best for my latitude, that the sight of these meteors are relatively rare.  Many times, they line up with the much more active SDA radiant.  However the PAUs I observed were low in the south-east or and moved horizontally with long paths, revealing their identity.  The SDAs continued producing steady rates, even a week after they peaked.  At 11:41pm, a pair of long SDAs were seen just 2 seconds apart in the same sky area.  The PERs started off slowly, but increased late at night with rates around 10/hr.

The brightest meteor was a -2 PER at 2:26am with a terminal flash and a 4 secs train.  However the highlight came at 3:38am with a -1 eta Eridanid (ERI) that shot 30 degrees in the south!  It had a vivid orange/blue colour and left a 2 secs train.  The ERIs are among my favourites of the minor showers.  Every August, I am impressed at the brightness and colours of these meteors, including some of the finest earthgrazers that I’ve seen.

At 3:06am, I saw two satellites moving from north to south, in close proximity high in the south that each brightened dramatically (up to -4) for a brief time.  After the flares, the satellites dimmed.  I’ve seen this satellite pair a few times, and the speed and orbit are different than the ISS.

At 3:45am, I felt that the sky was suddenly brighter and looked different, as is a very soft light illuminated the tree line and grass around me. I look up and behind me to the north… and much to me surprise, the aurora borealis was visible!  There was a large glow extending from the north-west to the north-east, and several greenish bands within it were developing.  For a few minutes, these bands extended more than two-thirds of the way to Polaris!  The bands moved, danced and became quite active for a period of about 30 minutes before the display subsided.  I certainly didn’t expect to see this, and on the next day I realized that a fast-moving stream of solar wind was responsible for this activity.

What a great night!

Observation August 4/5 2019, 03:20-08:30 UT (23:20-04:30 EDT)
Location: Bootland Farm (Stewartville), Ontario, Canada
(45°23’N 76°29’W)

Observed showers:
kappa Cygnids (KCG) – 18:40 (280) +45
alpha Capricornids (CAP) – 20:38 (309) -08
Anthelion (ANT) – 21:36 (324) -14
Northern delta Aquariids (NDA) – 22:33 (338) -02
Southern Delta Aquariids (SDA) – 23:01 (345) -15
Piscids Austrinids (PAU) – 23:10 (349) -22
Perseids (PER) – 02:20 (035) +55
eta Eridanids (ERI) – 02:32 (038) -14
49 Andromedids (FAN) – 02:41 (040) +53
psi Cassiopeiids (PCA) – 03:47 (057) +78

03:20-04:20 UT (23:20-00:20 EDT); clear; 3/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.43; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
SDA: three: +3; +4(2)
PER: two: +4; +5
KCG: two: +4(2)
ANT: one: +4
NDA: one: +5
Sporadics: five: +1; +3(2); +4(2)
Total meteors: Fourteen

04:20-05:20 UT (00:20-01:20 EDT); clear; 3/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.45; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: four: +1; +2; +4; +5
SDA: three: +2; +3(2)
CAP: three: 0; +2; +3
KCG: one: +2
PAU: one: +4
FAN: one: +5
Sporadics: seven: 0; +1; +2; +3(3); +4
Total meteors: Twenty

05:20-06:20 UT (01:20-02:20 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.52; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: ten: +1; +2; +3(2); +4(3); +5(3)
SDA: three: +2; +4; +5
CAP: three: +1(2); +3
ANT: two: +3; +4
NDA: one: +5
PAU: one: +2
FAN: one: +2
Sporadics: five: +1; +3; +4(2); +5
Total meteors: Twenty-six

06:20-07:20 UT (02:20-03:20 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.52; facing S50 deg; teff 1.00 hr
PER: nine: -2; +1; +2; +3(3); +4(2); +5
SDA: seven: 0; +1; +2; +4(3); +5
ANT: two: +3; +5
KCG: one: +2
NDA: one: +4
PAU: one: +4
Sporadics: eleven: -1; +2(3); +3(3); +5(4)
Total meteors: Thirty-two

07:21-08:30 UT (03:21-04:30 EDT); clear; 4/5 trans; F 1.00; LM 6.39; facing S50 deg; teff 1.08 hr, 4 min dead time (break)
PER: seven: +3(2); +4(2); +5(3)
SDA: four: +3; +4(2); +5
ERI: three: -1; +3; +5
KCG: two: 0; +2
NDA: two: +3; +5
ANT: one: +4
FAN: one: +3
Sporadics: ten: +3; +4(7); +5(2)
Total meteors: Thirty