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(meteorobs) Daylight Leonid Meteor Strom
Hi All.
We have decided on a place for our Leonids Expedition.
We plan to go to Woomera in outback South Australia. If it is cloudy there we have a backup site
about 120-150 kms further north which we could reach in as little as an hour (speeding a little)
Based on the wide range of predictions for the maximum of the Leonids, we decided that this would be
a great location. Traveling to Woomera puts us in a great location to see the maximum if it does
come at predicted times and if it is early or late we will still get a reasonable display. If it is
late, we will be observing on dawn and into the morning to run a daylight fireball watch. We expect
to be able to see some especially with clean crisp dawn and early morning skies, the contrast should
be better than a hazy evening or afternoon sky.
Perhaps aiming towards a higher contrast level for the observations may make the difference in
seeing fireballs in the day or not.
On the subject of film, I would think a moderate ASA film, say 200 would be good and allow
reasonable grain with fast exposure speed to reduce blurring in fireballs. Many of them will be of
long enough duration to actually get a shot of the fireball itself as well as other details such as
trains, bolide events, etc. Maybe run two cameras if you have manual systems, with someone to wind
one for you while you are using the other, so you don't miss anything. If you have an auto with
motor drives your set aren't you !!
Just my 2 cents worth.
Adam Marsh
Asst Director, ASV Meteor Section.
Melbourne, Australia.