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Re: (meteorobs) Leoind storm accounts
Thanks for the Leonid "tale" John. I hope I can convey the same sense
of joy I read in your note.
Congrats to your son on his science award, and boy am I familiar with
the "meteor yell".
Last year we were clouded out (in central Ohio) during the big Leonid
night. I stood outside around midnight/1am, as I recall, watching
through breaks in the thickening clouds, and was lucky to catch a deep
red fireball dripping fire like molten lava. It was low in the eastern
sky, evidently out of the slowly rising Leonid radiant..........
Thanks again, and save some clear skies for me.
> Gregg, here's my '98 Account,
>
>
> On Fri. the 13th I was planning my Leonid trip,
> wondering where the
> clear skies would be. I was to be traveling alone,
> but at the last second
> my son decided that he wanted to go. After 45
> minutes on the phone with his
> mom and his teacher (4th grade) it was set, it would
> be me and him.
> On Sat night we had some visitors, my best
> friend John, and my other
> best friend, his dog Wolfgang. To keep from
> rambling, Wolf (a 110 pd
> Malamute/wolf mix) Decided to go with us too. After
> studying the weather
> channel Sat. and Sun. I decided we should just stay
> put in central Md, and
> just go a few miles from home in the Antietam Natl
> Battlefield.
> On Sun night the three of us went out around
> 11:30, I familiarized my
> son with Orion, Gemini, star count area 4 in Gemini,
> and when it rose high
> enough, Leo. Then I explained how to trace the path
> of a meteor to decide
> whether it is associated with a shower, Leonids
> particularly. We were out
> for about 5 Hours TEFF, (Time Effective) with Leonid
> rates rising steadily
> from 2-3/hr the
> first few Hrs to ~15/hr before sunrise. Included in
> this were 9 fireballs,
> 6 in the last two hours. No storm, but an
> entertaining and educational
> experience for all.
> Monday night we got out to the battlefield
> around 10 minutes before
> midnight. I got the lounges set up, got my son into
> his sleeping bag, got
> wolf's water, and was just getting my recorder and
> star count charts out
> when my son let out that unmistakable "meteor yell".
> I quickly looked up,
> fully expecting to be too late. Instead, out of the
> ESE I see this
> fireball, A literal ball of fire, the head looked
> 1/2 the size of the full
> moon, the flaming red tail seeming to extend almost
> ten degrees across
> the sky. Even catching it late I watched it travel
> what seemed 130 degrees
> and three seconds (?) (it seemed to last forever)
> across the entire
> southern horizon. I estimated it at -10 magnitude,
> But it was hard to call
> since it was really the red of fire, not the
> brilliant blue/white I'm more
> accustomed to. My son admitted later that this
> fireball actually scared
> him for
> a moment, he thought it was going to crash into the
> cornfield in front of
> us
> and end the world. Anyhow I thought, "Boy are we
> gonna have a good night!!"
> I
> was right! The first hr we saw ~35 Leonids, 5 being
> fireballs. One -5
> fireball with a thirty second train and the -8 I
> mentioned before. We then
> got clouded out for a while, soooo frustrating on a
> night like that! When
> the skies cleared, our rates skyrocketed to 70 in
> the next hour. These were
> almost all 0 to -2 mag. Only one -4 fireball. Still,
> nothing I'd want to
> sleep through! The third hour rates dropped just
> slightly, to 63 Leonids,
> but 9 were fireballs, including six -4s, one with a
> thirty second train.
> Two neg 5s also in this hour! The last hour before
> morning twilight began
> to interfere we saw a total of 84 Leonids, almost
> one/45 seconds! Wooo
> Hooo! Five -3 fireballs, a neg 4 with a thirty
> second train, and a neg 5
> exploding into a brilliant -7 blue/white flashbulb
> imitation. What a great
> night! I have NEVER seen so many fireballs! And we
> "shouldn't bother going
> out unless we're making the trip to the far east"
> HA!!!
> Unfortunately Tuesday night ( ironically the
> only night the local
> weatherman claimed would be crystal clear) we were
> completely washed out, I
> saw a few fireballs through the thick clouds, but it
> never cleared enough
> to make any "real" observations.
> All in all Mon night / Tues. morning made it
> all worth while. I will
> be making an electronic copy of my and my sons
> observations and forwarding
> them to all pertinent agencies later this week. Hope
> everyone else had as
> enjoyable an experience as my motley little crew!
>
> Clear skies!!!
>
> John Newton
>
> Addendum 30 Aug '99: My son Johnathon made complete
> reports of his
> observations (with some help). I forwarded these to
> the IMO, NAMN, & NASA.
> We recieved thank you letters from NASA, and were
> both mentioned as
> contributors in the year end NAMN report. My son did
> a short report, and
> showed these to his teacher and class. At the end of
> the year his teacher
> nominated him, and he won a regional science award,
> frosting on the cake of
> an absolutely wonderful experience. We'll both be
> out there again this
> year!
>
> John Newton
>
>
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===
Gregg.................
Ring Leader of the Planet Ohio Nature Sites Web Ring
- http://pages.prodigy.com/daddy
Gardens, Stars and Butterflies BB creator/moderator
- http://wwwdot delphi.com/daddysplanet
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