Perseid Peek On Peak

My first sky check at 3:00 AM on Monday, August 12, 2013 was one of disappointment. Skies were overcast on peak frequency night and water was dripping from trees from a recent rainfall. A return to the outdoors one hour later, I witnessed open areas of sky to the northeast--the direction of the Perseids meteor shower. This image, captured at 4:43 AM, was my best of several meteor streaks. The image looks over our roof from our backyard in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and also shows the constellation Taurus (just above and left of the meteor), the star cluster Pleiades (above Taurus) and the 0.06 magnitude star Capella (left, near trees). The brownish smudge to the left is a passing line of clouds (moved right-to-left).