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