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(meteorobs) Leonid Photos from Anza Borrego



I also observed from Anza Borrego (like last year).  I ran
meteor-patrol cameras for 2 night/mornings, the 16/17 & 17/18.  As has
been widely reported, '99 was not the "Fireball Attack" like '98 was.  I
have some preliminary photos at:

http://www.comet-track.com/meteor/leonids99/leonids99.html

I will be uploading the remaining over the next week (~700 frames were
shot using 16 cameras on 4 tracking mounts & 2 tripods, a new record for
me).

The results compare POORLY with '98 photos at:

http://www.comet-track.com/meteor/leonids98/leonids98.html

I browsed this site, to remind myself of last year's apparition.  I
CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MANY SINGLE FRAMES (10 min exposures) SHOWED
*MULTIPLE* METEORS!!  (Remember, that film has a "thresholding" effect
in recording only the brighter meteors.)  One frame centered on the
radiant showed 7 meteors (
http://www.comet-track.com/meteor/leonids98/6x7/105mmBW_Leo.jpg ).  The
best I got this year was 2.. (I consider myself very lucky).  I don't
think I'll every match last year's results.

 I did a better job at visual observing this year (last year I spent
more time fumbling with cameras, than looking up).  This year, I
attended to cameras at 15 minute intervals, i.e. ending
exposures/resetting mounts/starting exposures (a 3 min "grand tour" of
the meteor patrol array).  Then, I sat down & looked up,  noting many
interesting meteors on notepad.  A majority of these meteors simply DID
NOT record on film (they just weren't bright enough).  I had cameras
monitoring *specific areas* along the entire Milky Way (2 x 24mm, 4 x
50mm), & I was watching carefully for crossing meteors.  I saw plenty of
non-bright ones...but they did not register on film. 

 I left Los Angeles at 3pm & got to my site at 8pm (5 hour trek).  Like
last year, I scouted my site at night, off-roading (in 4-wheel drive) in
a sandy arroyo.  I had been up since 3am Tue morning so it was MURDER,
getting equipment set up (unpacking, moving, assembling & polar aligning
4 mounts).  I barely getting meteor-patrol photography started at 11pm
(to catch earth grazers).  I was in a short-sleeve T-shirt (!!) until
1am, that's how warm it is in the low-desert in November.  Beginning
that night & next day was very breezy, gusts up to 30 mph.  I had to
cover the cameras with plastic trash bags; their "flapping" in the wind
was a constant racket.  I slept until 9pm (Nov. 17), & dragged myself
out to see some pretty serious cloud interference.  It didn't look good,
but miraculously it cleared by midnight.  I ran meteor-patrol until
sunrise, when the clouds moved in.  It took me 3 hours to disassemble &
pack.  Another 4 hours to get back home.

 I finally recovered enough sleep-wise to get some photos scanned &
uploaded.  Frankly, I'm disappointed.  Even last year's Geminids had
better meteors recorded on film (see
http://www.comet-track.com/geminids98/geminids98.html)  







Robert Gardner wrote:
> 
> Well the prediction of the meteor shower was right on the money, but
> none of us listened to the fact that it was going to be a storm in
> Europe and the middle East.  I drove well over 350 miles on the 17 Th.
> chasing clear skies.  When I found them I checked into a motel to get
> some shut eye.  Returning to the bluff above Canyon Cine Nombre (that's
> its name!) in the Anza Rorrego Desert State Park, California at 10 PM
> PST the sky was socked in with cloudy, so back to bed for two more hours
> of shut eye. At 12 PM PST it was the same thing.  However when I
> returned at 2:30 AM PST (10:30 UT) the sky was clear 5.5 LM or better.
> Between then and 5 AM PST (13 UT) I counted 59 Leanoids and 8
> sporatics.  The only bright one comparable to last years Leonods was the
> first sporatic that I observed.  As I was driving away after 5 AM I saw
> two more Leonoids that I didn't count and one of them was the brightest
> of the evening,  the only first magnitude one.  So I guess you can say I
> really saw 61 and I may have quit observing too soon, but I was tired
> and the sky had been slowly deteriorating from 3 AM on, and plus
> twilight was approaching.
>     The night had been very windy and cold.  The longitude of the site
> is roughly 116 degrees 10 minutes West Longitude and 32 degrees 42
> minutes North Latitude by auto map.  Elevation about 1,000 feet.
> 
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