(meteorobs) Saturday morning...

[Steven Kolins]

Hi,

Managed to get out with my daughter out for an hr (3:15am - 4:15, Saturday morning, local time, East Coast USA, which I place at -2:15 to -1:15 UT) and managed to see two bright Leonids, both leaving trails, and maybe two sporadics near the edge of visibility because of the moon light.

Field of view was from Polaris, centered on Leo Minor, down to somewhat south of Leo and from near the feet of Gemini down to past Leo's haunches. Limiting magnitude from visible stars about 4. No clouds; very steady air (very little twinkling!) Location was central North Carolina, between Raleigh and Asheboro (~35N, 79W).

The two Leonids would have been about mag +1 or even 0 (a bit brighter than Regulus) and a brighter one, perhaps -1 or -2. The sporadics would have been ~3+. Really the only reason I picked them up was that they covered a good spread across the sky; both covered about 20 deg of sky - they could have been Geminids - their paths would have crossed a couple deg. north of heads of Gemini.

Electric blanket really helped do the job! But alas my daughter managed to miss both meteors as she was too sleepy.

=    -   -  - - -  -   -    =
Steven Kolins
mailto:smkolins at mac.com
http://homepage.mac.com/smkolins/
http://smk99.blogspot.com/
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!