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(meteorobs) Leonids Report from United Kingdom

Although the weather conditions were pretty dire where I live in Nottinghamshire,I travelled up to
just north of Penrith and got a lovely clear sky through the maximum period.
Found a nice spot well away from lights,high up.
 
The watch was conducted by my wife and I from 1.50UT-5.20UT.
 
1.50-3.15 Patchy cloud
3.15-4.30 Almost totally clear
4.30-5.00 Patchy cloud
5.00-5.20 Clear
5.20      Overcast
 
Limited mag in the clear sky 4.0-4.5
 
Total Leonid meteors-258
 
3.50-4.50UT            179
4.01-4.31UT            122
4.09-4.13UT             32
 
I would suggest that the maximum occurred at 4.11UT
 
The rates were very low at the start of the watch.Started picking up around 3.18UT but this also coincided with better weather conditions.Sharp rise at 3.50UT.Rates declined gradually towards end
of watch.
Bursts of six in six seconds at the peak.
A lot of meteors close to the radiant at peak.
An even spread of magnitudes with only a few fireballs.
Twos and threes of meteors were "fired" out of the Sickle simultaneously.
 
A thoroughly enjoyable watch.Not as spectacular as the '98 fireball display but with higher rates.
 
A very poor show of sporadics showed how the Moon was drowning out a lot of meteors.
 
 
Gary Wilson
 
England