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(meteorobs) Leonid Observations from Goldstone (Bob Lunsford)
-- [ From: Robert Lunsford * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
I left town on Saturday just after 3pm and arrived in Barstow near 6pm.
Lance Benner (from JPL) arrived shortly after me and as soon as Michael
Koop and his group arrived we took off for Goldstone Deep Space Tracking
Station. The skies were perfectly clear and I managed to see one
sporadic meteor during the hour drive to our observing site. Lance had
picked out an outstanding site located near the Goldstone airstrip with
perfect horizons in every direction. It was interesting to see Michael
and his side-kick Pete set up his camera batteries for a trial run. I
was impressed with both the setup and the constant attention to the
cameras both Mike and Pete exhibited. Due to the intense moonlight
exposures were limited to 5 minutes and the cameras were constantly in
need of advancing. The meteor show was very sparse that morning. From
midnight to 3am I saw only 14 total meteors, 3 were Leonids. We decided
to call it quits just after 3am and headed back to the motel in Barstow.
After a nice nap (interrupted by the maid) we awoke around noon only to
find mostly cloudy skies. Lance and I did some constructive work
(watching the football game) while next door they toiled to get the
cameras ready for another night. Near 4pm we all decided to take a drive
to Rainbow Canyon to get some sightseeing in before it got too dark.
This area was just north of Barstow and was the location we thought
Robert Hawks was set up. We saw some marvelous scenery and a beautiful
sunset with multicolored cirrus. We never did find Robert in any of the
campsites but thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
After dinner we all set out once again to Goldstone. After a quick side-
trip to see the 70 meter dish up close we arrived at the airstrip near
10pm under clearing skies. I quickly jumped into my sleeping bag and
tried to get a few winks before counting. I must have been too excited
because I could not sleep so I began counting at 11pm under perfectly
clear skies. Rates were slow (as expected) the first 2 hours of the
night but began to pick up after 1am. Between 130-230 rates shot up from
8 Leonids an hour to 25. Most of the Leonids were of first or second
magnitude with an occasional negative magnitude Leonid. LM's were
getting better, from the low 5's to the middle 5's as the moon was
reaching the edge of my field of view. Rates increased slightly during
the next hour to 31. At 3:28 a tremendous Leonid shot into the northern
sky and flared to an estimated -8. The train lasted 130 seconds and this
seemed to signal the beginning of the main show. Rates during the next
hour increased to 52 Leonids with many colorful negative magnitude
members. One memorable one occurred at 3:55 when a -3 Leonid shot high
in the sky toward the west. It was only 5 degrees long but had an
intense green train the immediately began to twist and contort as soon
as it appeared. Lance and I were able to follow it for 15 seconds before
it faded beyond naked eye visibility. While all this was happening Mike
and Pete were out in the cold advancing the picture frames every 7
minutes. What dedication! Their companion Sandra was shrieking with
excitement every time a bright leonid appeared, and then she plotted
it's path on charts. We also had the military at nearby Fort Irwin
conducting war games and the flash of artillery and the delayed booms
were an added spectacle to the overall show.
During the last hour rates crept toward the one a minute mark while
still producing numerous bright Leonids. I kept looking for an onslaught
of faint Leonids but it either did not occur or the moonlight was too
intense. Several sporadics in the 3-4 magnitude range were seen but
Leonids fainter than +3 were a distinct rarity. We were forced to quit
at 530 due to the advancing twilight but at least 10 more bright Leonids
were casually seen during the next half hour as we packed and scraped
the ice off of our windshields.
We were all still wide awake so we headed back to the 70 meter dish to
take some pictures of it in daylight. After another quick nap in Barstow
we headed to Boron, a town just north of Edwards AF Base to meet with
Hans Betlem and members of the two other groups. We had a wonderful
lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and enjoyed comparing notes. At
4pm it was time to part ways and we said our goodbyes.
My appreciation goes out to Michael Koop for inviting me to join his
group. Mike, I'm sorry I did not supply you with more plots but it was
often difficult to keep up with recording the activity on tape, let
alone plotting. Also many thanks to Lance Benner for making the
necessary arrangements, escorting us out to Goldstone, and sharing his
outstanding observing site with us. Thanks for a memorable two days!
November 17
0700-0830 UT 1.48 5.12 5 LEO 2 SPO 7 TOTAL
0830-0930 UT 0.99 5.45 8 LEO 1 NTA 2 SPO 11 TOTAL
0930-1030 UT 0.99 5.45 25 LEO 1 NTA 4 SPO 30 TOTAL
1030-1130 UT 0.98 5.35 31 LEO 3 SPO 34 TOTAL
1130-1230 UT 0.97 5.65 52 LEO 7 SPO 59 TOTAL
1230-1330 UT 0.98 5.34 56 LEO 5 SPO 61 TOTAL
The data includes: Universal Time for each block of time, the actual
fraction of time spent observing, the average Limiting Magnitude during
each block of time, and the shower activity seen. LEO = Leonid, NTA =
Northern Taurid, SPO = Sporadic (random meteor).
MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:
LEONIDS: -8 (1) -5 (2) -4 (1) -3 (2) -2 (10) -1 (13)
0 (24) +1 (38) +2 (45) +3 (31) +4 (9) +5 (1) AVERAGE
MAGNITUDE: +1.14
SPORADIC AVERAGE MAGNITUDE: +3.00
The sky was clear during the entire session. There were no obstructions
and no breaks were taken. Time was lost for the plotting of bright
Leonids. I was facing due east at an altitude ranging from 50 to 70
degrees during this session.
Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 30 F (-1 C) 46%
Ending Temperature/Relative Humidity: 25 F (-4 C) 80%
Bob Lunsford