(meteorobs) Leonids Obs Australia

[kearn_jones]

tried sending this thru meteorobs proper - didnt seem to work so far, so reposting here.

Hello all,
Quick note, two of us observed from a spot 2 hours drive north of Adelaide, South 
Australia, under dark skies that are normally pristine 7+'s, but this morning with an 
average ZLM of around 5.8 - 6.1, (before twilight started to effect conditions), due to high 
cloud/summer haze.

Observed from 2:30 am till 5:02 am local time 19th nov 2006, (+10.5) .. 16:00 to 18:
32 18th nov UT
Between 16:32 and 18:32 18th UT, I personally recorded 10 LEO's, 1 or 2 AMO's, and 8 
SPO , our group count was 16 LEO between us in this time frame.

The best LEO which we both saw was a 0 mag leo at 18:07 UT, which left a nice smoke 
trail and travelled about 30 or so degrees, heading south, a classic bright leo, brought the 
memories flooding back of their former glory :-)

 My co-observer saw a very nice -3 leonid fireball at one point.

Most that I saw had nice short lived trains (in fact stumbled on one short LEO, only by its 
longer lasting tell-tale glowing train, it had left near the sickle). But most I saw were in the 
+2 or +3 mag or dimmer range.'
Still, believe it or not, that was the best Leonids show we have seen personally for a few 
years now - scary!

Cheers and happy hunting to all!

Kearn Jones
Adelaide
Australia