My wife and I, along with another couple drove to a
very dark and remote location in extreme NE California. It was cold so we waited
until about Midnight (8:00 UT) to begin observing. A
conservative average would be 10 meteors per minute with brief periods of one
per second. They seemed to often come in pairs and sometimes triplets. One
Leonid was bisected by a sporadic at a perpendicular angle and then the
path of that meteor was immediately crossed by another Leonid. The most activity
seemed to come between 10:30 and 11:00 UT.
We saw six very bright Leonids that lit up the
ground and left persistent trains. The brightest one left a train close to
Procyon which lasted for at least three minutes and eventually drifted in front
of the star and seemed to dim it slightly.
I saw four meteors to the south that traveled nearly straight down with no
trains at all and were clearly not Leonids. They were consistent in appearance
and direction. They may have been Monocertids, but I can't be sure. The meteor I
mentioned that crossed paths with the Leonids may have been one as well. My
apologies for the unscientific observations. Someday I hope to be able to
contribute useful data.
By 4:00 am we were chilled to the bone and, in the interest of full
disclosure, we jumped in the hot tub and continued to see many more despite the
somewhat limited view of the sky. We were at a hot springs resort that had
actually printed information about the shower for the guests and made sure the
outside lights were off! Indulgent, I know, but it was also our wedding
anniversary.
Michael Clark
Ashland, Oregon