[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) LEONID STORM report from Coober Pedy, South Australia
Hello all
Awesome. The one word that could best describe the leonid meteor storm of
2001 from the desert opal mining town of Coober Pedy, South Australia. My
brother Steve, friend Nick and myself drove 750kms north of home base in
Wallaroo to achieve better weather prospects, warmer weather, a extra 5
degrees of radiant elevation, extra 30 minutes of darkness to witness the
peak and of course sample the local frontier culture on offer. We arrived at
our observing site, the spectacular breakaways Aboriginal reserve 20kms from
Coober Pedy, about 1:30am (15:00UT Nov 18th) and began setting up. The first
Leonid arrived at 2:22 am. Many more were to follow. I commenced counting at
3:00am (16:30UT) but by the time the peak arrived at 4:40am (18:15UT),
fatigue and awe set in. Meteors were arriving one every 2-3 seconds and
probably more as I concentrated mostly on the radiant. My camera quickly ran
out of film. Doh! A look back to the west, the long trails were more
spectacular, looking like missiles fired from warplanes. The highlights of
the night were a burst of 5 meteors simultaneously emanating out of Leo in
all directions, numerous 4 meteor bursts, plus 3 memorable fireballs that
lit up the landscape like lightning, leaving smoke trails visible for
several minutes. Bright point meteors within Leo made the constellation
appear to have "Stars of Bethlehem". The zodiacal light appeared very
prominent. Was I seeing the leonid trail in space? By 5:30am (19:00UT)
twilight had approached but the meteors still kept flashing. I didn't wait
till sunrise and retired at 6am. Over 2000 meteors were witnessed that
morning.
I wasn't quite prepared for detailed scientific reporting. The meteors
appeared mostly green, white and yellow. They were rather brighter than
expected as well, many around 1st-2nd magnitude. Here's a list of
approximate ZHR's for personal interest.
OBSERVER: Michael Mattiazzo
LOCATION: Long: E134.7 Lat: S29.1
City & State:Coober Pedy, South Australia
RECORDING METHOD: visual
Nov 18th UT Teff rAlt LEO ~ZHR
16:30-16:45 0.25 5 42 1930
16:45-17:00 0.25 7 63 2070
17:00-17:05 0.083 9 30 2310
17:05-17:10 0.083 10 24 1660
17:10-17:15 0.083 11 45 2830
17:15-17:20 0.083 12 57 3290
17:20-17:25 0.083 13 55 2930
17:25-17:30 0.083 14 68 3370
17:30-17:35 0.083 15 77 3570
17:35-17:40 0.083 16 67 2910
17:40-17:45 0.083 17 77 3160
17:45-17:50 0.083 17 100 4100
17:50-17:55 0.083 18 116 4500
17:55-18:00 0.083 19 99 3650
18:00-18:05 0.083 20 86 3020
18:05-18:10 0.083 21 100 3350
18:10-18:15 0.083 22 >120 >3850
18:15-18:20 0.083 23 >120 >3680
18:20-18:25 0.083 23 >100 >3000
18:25-18:30 0.083 24 >100 >3000
18:30-19:30 lots
Teff=total effective observing time (hrs)
rAlt=altitude of radiant
LEO=number of Leonids observed in the time interval
ZHR=approximate calculated zenith hourly rate assuming limiting
magnitude=6.5
Cheers,
Michael Mattiazzo
Wallaroo, South Aust
mmatti@yp-connectdot net
The archive and Web site for our list is at http://www.meteorobs.org
If you are interested in complete links on the upcoming LEONIDS, see:
http://www.meteorobs.org/storms.html
To stop getting email from the 'meteorobs' list, use the Web form at:
http://www.meteorobs.org/subscribe.html