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Re: (meteorobs) No Storm?



Fellow Meteor watchers:

Below we present only a small fraction of reports that have come in concerning
the Leonid Shower of 1998.  At this point in time, it appears that the peak of
the display may have already occurred at roughly 05 hours UT -- nearly 15
hours before the expected/projected peak!  This assumption is primarily based
on the very high rate of activity that was observed from La Palma in the
Canary Islands (first report below) of 1000 to 2000 per hour. . . with a rate
approaching one per second (3600/hour).  The comment by Alan Fitzsimmons that
it appears that ". . . rates over the Eastern U.S. may be very high" does not
appear to have panned-out, since the rates across North America were -- in
reality -- only a fraction (less than 1/10th) of these rates.

As to what will occur in the coming hours, it is fair statement to say that
nobody really knows.  We are due to pass closest to the orbit of Comet Tempel-
Tuttle at 19:43 UT this afternoon (Tuesday).  This was the time that was
anticipated to be the peak of this year's display. . . many astronomers who
traveled to places like northeastern Siberia, Mongolia and the Australian
outback to properly position themselves for seeing a potential meteor storm
may very well have been. . . or will be. . . disappointed.  

It is not out of the question that we could hit a secondary surge of heavy
activity later today or tonight. . . but more likely, the actual peak has
already passed us by for this year and tonight's rates both in terms of
overall numbers. . . and fireballs. . . will be considerably lower than what
has been reported during the past 24-36 hours.

The only way to verify this is to get out and look for yourself.  Tonight
probably offers you your last really good look at the Leonids until next
year's display.

Good Luck!
-- joe rao
 

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Dear All,

We're at the summit of the island of La Palma in the Canary
islands, at the UK Isaac Newton Telescope. We are having
an amazing display here. From doing 2-minute counts, we
were seeing roughly 1000 meteors per hour at 03:30 UT,
climbing to roughly 2000 per hour at 04:30 UT. These
are estimates of the all sky rate uncorrected for
the height of Leo above the horizon. It may be an
underestimate, as we are mere professional astronomers
and are not used to this kind of activity - we feel that
we may be missing a number of faint meteors (less
than 3rd mag).

The number of bright meteors and fireballs is astounding.
Every couple of minutes you get a bright flash behind you
and you turn around to se the ion trail fading. The
brightest meteors have bright green trails, often
with bright red heads.

The rate still seems to be increasing - we've just
gone outside the control room of the telescope and we
are approaching 1 meteor per second. It looks like rates
over the Eastern US may be very high. However the zodiacal
light is now quite bright, so twilight is approaching.

Hoping you have clear skies wherever you are,

Alan Fitzsimmons
On behalf of a happy bunch of astronomers

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Was observnig at Anderson Mesa (Lowell Observatory) near Flagstaff, Arizona,
with four others:  Kevin Krisciunas, Gene Magnier and Chris Stubbs from
University of Washington, and myself and Brian Skiff from Lowell Observatory.

At 12:25 AM (0725 UT),  I was in the telescope dome working when I heard the
others exclaim in unison, "Wow!"  They had seen a -5 magnitude meteor which
was visible for 140 degrees of flight. It left a train that lasted for 10
minutes, getting kinked by the upper atmospheric winds.

Between 1:00am MST and 1:45am MST (08:00-08:45 UT) we observed as a group,
counting 64 Leonids and about 10 other meteors.  This was with much of the
northern and eastern part of the sky clouded out.  Many glowed red and orange.
There were several nice fireballs.  The display prompted us to developed our
own meteor nomenclature.  "Puff Daddies" were the ones that went pffft over a
short distance.  Then, we had the "Whoas,"  "Double Whoas," and the
"Triple-Double Whoas."

Brian, Chris and Gene left after this observing session.  That left Kevin and
I to continue the watch.

Eventually, the sky cleared, and from 3:40am MST to 4:40am MST (10:40-11:40
UT), Kevin counted 43 Leonids and 9 others.  Many were magnitude 0 or
brighter.   I counted 12 in 8 minutes starting at 4:40am MST (11:40 UT).  From
11:50-12:32 UT, Kevin observed 40 Leonids and 6 others. This included a period
with 19 Leonids in 12 minutes.

At 5:47am MST (12:47 UT), I saw a brilliant meteor that glowed white, then
green, then blue-green, then blue-white before vaporizing.  It reached -5 in
magnitude and the train was visible for 10 minutes into the morning twilight.

Although not a meteor storm, this morning's display was certainly among the
best meteor showers I've observed.  I'll be out again, tonight.  Can't wait
for 1999.

Bill Ferris
Flagstaff, AZ

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We observed from Markham Park's Fox Observatory in Broward County, Florida, in
the Metro Miami area.  This was the first time I've been there at night and
was surprised to see the skies so clear and dark -- my friend and I had
actually been planning on going into the Everglades but gave this place a try
on the way out.  (Right after stopping at the last minute at a
convenience store to buy some Off).  We stayed there from 12:45 AM ET through
4:00 AM 11/17/98.

We saw one sporadic, meaning it did not belong to the Leonids.  It was very
clearly coming in from the opposite direction, heading straight toward Leo.

Most were very fast and bright.  Even the small ones seemed bright.  I counted
twelve that left smoky, contrail-like trains.  Most trains were short lived,
but two lasted for a while.

The best of the night came at 1:41 AM.  As my observing partner said, "That
was worth the price of admission."  (And never mind that there was no price
for admission, that doesn't matter).  So intense was this one Leonid that my
friend had such a reaction that his jumping to turn and see it better actually
broke my lawn chair (which I admit was cheap anyway).

This single outstanding Leonid started near the area of Leo's "head," flew
through the entire course of the sky, and disappeared just before vanishing
over the horizon.  It grew in brightness until it was bright enough to
illuminate the entire sky and cast a shadow. The brightness was as intense as
a welder's torch.  It left behind a train or contrail like vapor that was at
least 40 degrees in length.  The train remained clearly visible for at least
90 seconds (I did not start timing it immediately).  The winds reshaped the
train into a slight "S" shape as it faded away.  The train was 20 degrees
below Cassiopeia.

Another interesting site was when two were seen at the same time.  Both
radiated from the area of Leo and both skimmed about 15 degrees above the
horizon.  One was in the north and the other in the south and both appeared
and disappeared at the same time.  It was as if the earth didn't quite squeeze
through the two of them.

The frequency was not as great as I expected.  During one 1 hour period I
counted 40, which is pretty good.  I didn't keep count every hour, but that
count was during the peak period, so other times had less than 40.  Cloud
cover came in at 2:40 AM and we had partially cloudy (and partially clear)
skies until 4 AM, when a heavy cloud cover rolled in.

When I returned to my home, which is in a very well lit neighborhood, I
continued to see small ones, at a rate of about 1 every other minute.

Maynard Pittendreigh
Pittendray@aol.com

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Well, the weather was nice for me here in Fresno CA for a while.  Enough to
enjoy 1 1/2 hours of meteor siting.(130am til 300am)  And all I can say
is.......WOW!!!!  I was impressed!!!!  Saw at least 30 within that 1 1/2hrs.
And they were spectacular!  Saw one that left a trail that lingered for a good
minute or so after the meteor had faded out.  I
am not much of an observer....but I had a great time tonight, clouds finally
made me have to stop and go home.  Am hoping for the same luck tomorrow!

Star

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Observing from Boone, NC (in very northwestern corner of NC in mountains)
on Nov. 17,  from 3:30 est to 5:30 est from a totally dark site...

Over 200 meteors were observed over 2 hrs thru about 10% spotty cloud cover.
At least 10 left trails lasting up to, yes, 30 seconds.  Approx. 15 ended with
extremely bright flashes which, when happening behind me, would lit up the
landscape like lighting.   I am working towards my degree in astronomy and in
15 years of watching meteor showers I have never seen this level of activity;
but we do get rained out frequently so I can't say I've seen all the showers
during then!  Tonight will rank up there with Hyakutake (forgive me
if I misspelled that, it is 6am) and Hale-Bopp.  I'm not going to be able to
sleep for hours!!

-A very tired but very happy astronomer-in-training

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With the prospect of only "partly cloudy" skies I decided not to venture out
to a special site this AM.....instead I propped myself up on my back deck and
faced east starting around 1:30 AM.....from the looks of it someone was
setting off bottle rockets  in the park about 1 mile due east from my house in
Fairfax City, Virginia!   Between 1:30 AM and 2:30 AM I counted 29 BRIGHT
fireballs....all Leonids...one was even bright enought to include in the
class of "Those that cast a shadow"...dot it actually hurt my eyes to look at
it....all of these were fast and (necessarily) bright....only one or two
extended beyond about 15 degrees....all were -3 Magnitude or
brighter...dot sirius and Saturn looke like pikers by
comparison........yep...these were BOTTLE ROCKETS!!   I can only imagine what
it would look like under dark skies.....I may HAVE to head up to Crockett
tomorrow night to find out!!!

- SLAW

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Good show here at the Wesa Tsalagi (Cherokee Cat) Observatory in Mays
Landing , Southern New Jersey on November 16-17/1998 between 0630 and
0757 UTC. Local time 0130 to 0257 EST

Observer Fred Mason  (me) saw 39 mostly Leonids with a few Taurids, most
brighter than +2.  Several with trains. Green, Pink, Orange and
blue/white.  Many low on horizon just above treeline. Missed a bunch
while trying to record.

Observer, Amy Shelton, (wife and mathematician) saw 54 total meteors,
again mostly Leonids. And she missed a few off to the East that were out
of her field of vision that I saw. So there were more than 54 total
during the period.

We were facing to view East to Southwest skies.  LM was 5. Pleiades
stars definable and Orion nebula excellent in binoculars.   No cloud
until about 0745 when we were overrolled from the southwest by broken
then solid cloud bank. Neat to see Sirius winking on and off later as
clouds took over.

We both saw and said "WOW!!!" to a -8 Leonid fireball that traversed the
SE sky from Leo Minor to Taurus leaving a train that persisted for
almost 10 minutes as the smoke was twisted by the upper winds.  The
fireball was brilliant green with an orange head that appeared to burst
terminally.  Almost but not quite as bright as full Moon. Think it was
at 0648UTC but need to check notes to be sure.

It seemed the rate was even better than 30 per hour and the show was
already well in progress at 0130 EST local time when we set up.  In the
excitement, I tripped over a bench in the garden and sprawled facefirst
in the dirt with a bloodied shin and sore wrist...but I rolled over to
face the sky while waiting for the pain to subside so I wouldn't miss
any of the show (8-)>

Will put together a formal report later once I sort out my notes. Sky is
beginning to clear this morning (10am EST) so maybe another good session
tonite.  Fingers crossed.

Last nite kinda reminded me of a very good Perseids event of a few years
ago...a superb show.

Fred Mason & Amy Shelton
Wesa Tsalagi Observatory  (74-42-36 west & 39-26-24 north)
Mays Landing NJ 08330.


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