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Re: (meteorobs) Leonids Report from United Kingdom

I was watching a few miles north of Dundee, UK.
A hazy sky hindered our observations severely. The clouds started drifting 
in around 2 UT, with patches that were a little less covered in which we 
could still see stars up to about mag 3. Counting seemed therefore pretty 
useless. We spotted about a hundred meteors between 3.10 and 4.40 UT. I also 
had the impression that the meteors came in bursts, of 4-5 in 20 seconds, in 
2 cases parallel. I agree with a sharp increase around 3.50 UT. The best of 
the night was a -5 fireball around 4.20 UT and an -2 earthgrazer with a 
broken up trail at 0.05 UT. No science possible with these observations, but 
I hope it'll give an idea.
Marcel Meima
Dundee UK


>
>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


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