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(meteorobs) Leonids Maryland...Early Peak?
Yet more worthless LM-less observations...
Found I had to continually shift to keep my rooftop barely obscuring the moon as
it rose....skies remained devoid of clouds. But during this period, due to my
house, I was easily obscuring 40% of the sky I've normally watched for Leonids
at that time of night in 98-99...and ironically the brightest I seemed to catch
barely peeking over the rooftop.
As a rough guess, on a moonless night, not having to contend with the moon, and
also being able to have a fuller field of view to the East, I'd guess the
numbers below would have been doubled. I had essentially no view whatsoever of
any Leonids extending "down" from the radiant to the horizon the entire period
(or short-track meteors close to the radiant).
Observed from 7Z to 820Z..over time the brightness of the meteors definately
decreased.
Time Leonids Sporadic/Other Showers
700Z-710Z 8 0
710Z-720Z 15 3
720Z-730Z 23 0
730Z-740Z 8 1
740Z-750Z 15 0
750Z-800Z 13 1
800Z-810Z 15 1
810Z-820Z 8 1
At about 710Z I observed 4 bright Leonids simultaneously and briefly had wild
thoughts of the great storm of 2000 beginning, but it was an isolated spurt :-)
Within each time period the Leonids were unusually separated into brief bursts,
much more so than 1998. Almost all occured in groups of 3-4 within the space of
15 seconds and large gaps in-between.
The size of the satellite "cloud hole" over the Mid-Atlantic certainly means
that far more qualified observers should have had a good view. Looking forward
to see the ZHR calculations....Given that I was able to see 89 in an hour, with
that moon, much of my sky obscured by my House, and in a rural/suburban area
with a lot of security lights at nearby houses, I'll hazard a guess ZHRs may
well have topped 200.
John Krempasky
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