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(meteorobs) Impressions of the 99 Leonids from Spain

I was fortunate to witness the Leonid outburst from the southern coastal
ranges of Spain. I was with a group fellow observers which included
Rainer Arlt, Cathy Hall, Ralf Koschack, Pierre Martin, Sirko Molau,
Juergen Rendtel, and Manuela Trenn. After a quick flight from Berlin to
Malaga to avoid clouds and bad weather we stocked up on supplies and set
out to find a suitable observing site. We came upon an abandoned
hacienda well off the main road that offered a bit of shelter from the
elements. We arrived sometime around 2100 local time, some 5 hours
before the expected maximum activity. We had time to explore the area
searching for the best possible sites to set up. Several people set up
close to the hacienda to protect themselves from the wind, which was
blowing quite strongly out of the east. Myself and others decided to set
up in a field across from the hacienda which allowed a better view of
the sky. To lessen the effect of the wind some of us stacked material
from the house beside us on the ground. I faced due east while the
others faced in a more northerly direction. The wind was blowing in my
face but the excitement of the night lessened the impact the wind was
producing.

I started watching at midnight local time which was 2300 Universal Time.
The sky was perfectly clear but the moon was still in the western sky.
Luckily it would soon encounter a hill in that direction and be out of
our way. Rates were excruciatingly slow that first hour. It took me
nearly one half hour to see any activity at all. I was actually happy
not to see any Leonids as I was hoping that the maximum would occur a
bit late and allow us a better view. My first Leonid was a faint
earthgrazer seen at 2354 UT. After 0000 UT rates picked up with 6 being
seen during the next 30 minutes and 19 during the next 30 minute period.
A surge of activity seemed to commence at 0049 when 3 Leonids were seen
in fairly rapid succession. After 0100 UT rates slowly climbed from 2
meteors per minute to 5 per minute at the bottom of the hour. It was not
soon after 0130 that we all knew we were in some something special.
Rates soon increased tremendously and we were seeing activity every few
seconds with many simultaneous meteors. At 0145 rates were near 10 a
minute with Leonids appearing all over the sky. While there were many
bright Leonids in the 0 to 2nd magnitude rage, most of the activity
seemed composed of 3rd and 4th magnitude meteors. Fifth magnitude
Leonids were also common near the center of my field of view (which was
in Gemini at this time). Between 0145 and 0200 UT it became difficult to
assign magnitudes to all the activity seen. I was constantly rambling
numbers into my cassette recorder and soon just let it run as there were
very few breaks of more than 5 seconds with a meteor being seen. Often
there were bursts of 3-4 meteors a second resulting in shrieks of joy
and laughter and it was impossible to record all the activity. A one
second period at 0156 produced 7 Leonids, 3 simultaneously.  At the top
of the hour I abandoned all hope of recording magnitudes as I was just
missing too many meteors. I simply said "now" each time I saw a meteor
and I was often repeating "now" as fast as I could to keep up with the
activity. At 0207 the tape ran out without any warning and some activity
was lost. Luckily I was checking the recorder every minute and quickly
changed the tape. I was also running a camera which I promptly neglected
to advance due to all the excitement. 

Rates were still quite strong until 0215 UT when it became apparent that
the display was waning.  At this point I resumed recording magnitudes
and still managed to record an average of 20 meteors per minute until
the bottom of the hour. After 0230 UT rates were falling quite steeply
and it was then apparent that there would be little left over of the
outburst for North America. During all the excitement I was constantly
battling my outer bag which was constantly flapping and being a real
nuisance.  Also by this time my air mattress had gone flat and I was
lying on the ground. The pillow I had was also too small and I had to
prop my duffel bag beneath my head.

One positive note while viewing the waning activity was that the Leonids
were becoming brighter with several in the minus magnitude range. The
brightest Leonid of the night occurred at 0344 when a -8 shot low into
the southern skies creating a train that was seen for 110 seconds. It
could be followed in binoculars for another couple of minutes. 

Once again at 0401 my tape ran out and this time I could not get the
cassette door to open. After fumbling with it for 5 minutes I finally
resumed counting. Unfortunately I did not realize that the tape was
jammed until 15 minutes later so all activity was lost between 0401 and
0424. I watched for another 12 minutes before being forced to take a 10
minute break due to back pain. I resumed at 0445 lying on my side
looking north but I was too exhausted to continue beyond 0500.

It was a crazy night but well worth all the turmoil Mother Nature and
Murphy threw at us. I had finally seen my meteor storm! It may not have
provided 40 meteors a second but I will take 40 a minute in a heartbeat.
Now when and where is the forecast for that next one?

Clear Skies!

Bob Lunsford
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