Perseids 8/12

I got settled at Farrington around 11:15pm on the night forecast to be the peak of the Perseids. The sky was about 70% clouds, but the clear part centered on the radiant. I saw a few Perseids before the storms rolled in.

Quite an electrical show ensued for about 90 minutes. Two strong but small cells passed just SW of us. Pittsboro got rained on hard I believe, but Farrington didn't get a drop. The storms passed over the lake where US-64 crosses, so that gives you an idea of how close we were. Interestingly, through most of that period, the 30% of the sky around the radiant stayed fairly clear.

At 1:10, the sky suddenly cleared. Over the next hour, I saw 15 Perseids, and 3 non-Perseid meteors. There were a few good fireballs, one in particular that was excellent. It was interesting how they seemed to come in waves. 3-4 in just a few minutes, and then 10 minutes of nothing.

While waiting for meteors, I determined that the limiting magnitude in the darkest part of the sky was right around 5.1. The glow to the NNW was very bright tonight. Perhaps it's brighter in general than the last time I was at Farrington? (which may have been last year's Perseids) Also, while the sky was 70% clouds, the orange glow on the clouds was bright enough to seriously diminish my ability to see the clear portion of the sky.

There were quite a few people out. I'd say at least 20 people cycled through while I was there, but most were gone by the time the sky cleared. It's a real shame that they didn't get a better show.