(meteorobs) Fwd: Leonids Storm late 1940s

[Ed Majden]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: THOMAS HILL [mailto:montefina at msn.com]
> Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 3:30 PM
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> Subject: Leonids Storm late 1940s
> 
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knows of a Leonid storm during the summer of around
> 1947-1949.  I was a child in California and saw a sky
> full of moving stars which lasted at least an hour.  After awhile, my family
> went inside, but when I checked about an hour later,
> there were still about 10-15 stars a second moving.  I have seen the woodcut
> of the 1833 meteor storm, and cannot say that my
> experience was that all the stars were coming down toward the earth as the
> woodcut shows.  It seems that the stars were crossing the
> sky and going in all directions.  I have not read any account of this event,
> and was wondering if it had been recorded anywhere.
> 
> J. Hill
> montefina at msn.com
> 
    I wonder if you may be referring to the 1946 Giacobinid meteor storm.
This is when the late Dr. Peter M. Millman conducted his classic meteor
spectroscopy observation of this storm.  Millman was based in Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada at this time and weather was unfavorable so he recruited the
help of the RCAF to fly his team to North Bay where skies were clear.  He
had recently left the RCAF as a Squadron Leader Navigation Instructor after
WWII.  The spectra of these meteors indicated that they were akin to dust
balls like cigarette ash rather than solid hard bodies.  I don't know if the
Leonids were active during the dates you mentioned as the shower has a 33
year orbital period for storm activity. !933-1966 etc.

Ed Majden
Courtenay, B.C.