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(meteorobs) Leonids - Nth California



Date: 17 November 2000
Time: 0030 to 0230 PST
Location: Wilson Hill, (W of Petalume, N of Novato), California
          Lat: 38.1713295 Lon: -122.6993256
Altitude: approx 300m ASL
Breaks: negligible
Zenith Limiting Magnitude: 5.0 (withouth the Moon it may have been 6+)
Horizon Limiting Magnitude: 3.0
Observers: 
	Robert Leyland -  Facing W, NW,  unobstructed view
	David Stripinis -  facing S, SW,  unobstructed view


Ground fog in the low lying areas forced us to find high enough ground for
clear seeing.  Once we did it was a beautiful night with excellent LM
overhead.  Skyglow from the nearer cities (Santa Rosa to the N, Novato S,
and Petaluma E) made the horizons a wash out.  Happily STARcasts predictions
of "best" seeing for the evening proved accurate.

Early in the evening (11:30pm to 12:30) I set up my telescope so that Dave
could see Jupiter, Saturn the Moon and a few of the brighter deep sky
objects.  Transparency was good, albeit contrast reduced by the 3/4 moon,
and the air was quite steady.   As we viewed the moon, an airliner crossed
the face of the moon, leaving fabulous contrail.  

While we were "telescoping" we caught 3 or 4 meteors of good brightness, but
not included below.

With the bright moon we mainly saw high brightness, and fireball type
meteors.  We did not keep a particularly accurate count, but rather sat back
and enjoyed the experience.  These counts represent my memory, and notes
from immediately after the events.

Totals:

Leonids:   27   
Sporadics: 2

Start time:    0030-  0045-  0100-  0115-  0130-  0145-  0200-  0215-
LEONIDS          3      2      5      5      1      4      3      4    
SPORADICS        -      1      -      -      -      1      -      -
BATS             -      -      1      -      -      -      1      -


Magnitude:       5      4      3      2      1      0     -1     -2     -3
LEONIDS          2      4      4      7      5      2      1      0      1
SPORADICS        -      2      -      -      -      -      -      -      -


Our best was a -3 fireball that "burst" close to the horizon with a flash
bright enough to cause shadows.  Dave saw a distinct red coloration in that
meteor, I thought I could discern a double trail.  The after glow lasted
several seconds, before being swallowed by the moon light.

Several other meteors had a blueish cast, and many left glowing trails.

The two sporadic meteors were notably slower than, and both were moving N to
S at almost a right angle to, the Leonids.

We saw two awesome bats, actually it may have been the same bat on separate
flights, quite remarkable in the moonlight, and so quiet for such a large
wingspan (over a foot)

Dave saw an additional 5 meteors, not counted here, mostly moving through
Orion, which was out of my view. 

We both noticed that the Leonids seemed to arrive in groups, where there
would be a period of inactivity, followed by 2 or 3 meteors in just a couple
of minutes.  This effect may be purely psychological, but it was enhanced by
the 4 meteors we saw as we were discussing leaving :-)

All in all a good night, pretty meteors, with fireballs reminiscent of 1998,
but the moon washing out the low brightness ones.  A much better experience
than 1999, where we were clouded out.



Robert Leyland
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