(meteorobs) Leonid activity Nov. 19 from Florida

[Norman W. McLeod III]

There was just enough time to check on the Leonids from my back yard.  Half 
an hour, 515 - 545 am EST, 1015 - 1045 UT 2004 Nov 19, sky LM 5.8, 3 
Leonids, 1 sporadic.  All but one meteor were  +2m.   One Leonid at 533 am, 
1033 UT, was an intense orange  -4m with 10s train.  Leonids don't have to 
be blue meteors ; this one looked like an orange Venus.  Lucked out and got 
a nice one.  But not much activity overall.  The sky was as good as it gets 
from town these days.  Have been free of a neighbor's yard light 
recently.  It went on the blink literally for months, then went out for 
good -- the lady has not been feeling so well any more so maybe won't get 
around to fixing the light.  Fine with me.

I also saw a nice  +1m black meteor, about the speed of Delta 
Aquarids.  Seen almost centrally going 10- to 4-o'clock position angle in 
my field.  It was a sporadic.  One of the best I've seen in a long 
time.  We discussed black meteors in the early days of meteorobs more than 
once.

There was a mention on local radio after I came in about people on early 
commutes seeing  "meteor showers."  Probably just enough bright ones low in 
the sky to get public attention.  The evening of Dec 13/14 will really get 
their attention.

The weather has been clear for the past 3 nights, but partly cloudy for a 
week prior -- stratocum bunches coming from the Atlantic so it could be 
clear for a couple of hours then cloudy for an hour or so.  Too unreliable 
for serious observing from out of town.  Been too busy this week for longer 
sessions.  Now hoping to get a clear Geminid max.

We had a nice view of the lunar eclipse Oct 27.  Sky fully clear for a 
change.  Last year both eclipses were partly cloudy.  I gave this one a 
Danjon = 1.5, still a bit darker than average but finally getting some 
color back.  Coppery - amber was my color.  I saw 7 meteors during eclipse 
totality, Joan saw only 2.

Norman

Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society

Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod at peganet.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.meteorobs.org/pipermail/meteorobs/attachments/20041119/7ad4ec05/attachment.html