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Re: (meteorobs) Leonid Hype



On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 17:39:00  
 Skywayinc wrote:
>
>You see what I mean folks?  
>Now that's A N G R Y !  
>-- joe rao
>

Well, I'd just like to strangle the first weatherman I can
get my hands on right about now! :) (just kidding).

As far as advertising hype, CNN on Monday morning quoted a
rate of 6000/MINUTE!  When in doubt, go for the most 
outrageous number.  In 2001, the media reported that unlike
most such events, the Leonids of that year seemed to live
up to their billing.  Maybe they billed them more accurately.

Unfortunately, I have no worthy data to report on this 
year's shower.  I left Southern Oregon (cloudy,
chance of rain) for Northern California (reputedly clear to
partly cloudy).  After two hours I finally hit a cloud break. I quickly saw four bright Leonids at 9:50UT, then 
hit a devastating dry spell where the sky was relatively
clear but no Leonids appeared for 10 minutes.  Then the
sky closed up again.  I drove to another break, and saw
five or six leonids in 7 minutes, then another dry spell 
despite LM of 5.3 in Orion.  It was mostly cloudy from 10:30 
to 11:10UT, which corresponds pretty well to the derived
peak.  I saw 5 Leonids including one fireball while driving.
My next stop was the best of the night. I saw 12 Leonids in
five minutes 11:10-11:15UT with 30% obstruction and LM=5.4, 
including a -6 fireball with contrasting blue and red colors 
and a convoluted train.  That cloud break, too, would pass.
I repeated the pattern northward, and grumbled the next day
at the clear sky that arrived just a few hours late.

--
Wes Stone
Chiloquin, OR



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