(meteorobs) Leonids on 18 Nov (UT) from southern Maryland

[Richard Taibi]

This session started as the gibbous moon was descending in the west.  I faced southeast so that the moon was behind me as I watched for Leonids.  (Moonset at 8:49 UT.) The sky was hazy but there were few actual clouds.  The watch's second period surprised me with an hourly rate of 10 Leonids per hour.  The brightest LEO seen was -1 magnitude.  Today's IMO "visual data quicklook's" ZHR curve suggests that my observation occurred near the peak of a rate 'foothill' indicating a ZHR of 19 +/- 2.
 
18 November 2010, 8:12 - 10:32 UT/ 3:12-5:32 a.m. EST
Bel Alton, Maryland, USA; 76d 59m W longitude, 38d 28m N latitude, ~10 meters elevation.
 
8:12-8:57 UT, Teff=0.75, Lm=5.0, F=1.00, Field Center at mid-period: RA 130d, Dec +18d
 
LEO: four: 0, +1, +2 (2)
SPO: four: 0 (2), +2 (2)
 
9:02-10:32 UT, Teff=1.50, Lm=5.0, F=1.01, Field Center at mid-period: RA 145d, Dec +12d
 
LEO: fifteen:  -1, 0, +1 (4), +2 (3), +3 (5), +4.
SPO: five:      +2 (3), +3 (2)