We started under
totally clear skies. All the equipment was already set up before sun set. Visual
observers started at 22.00 UT. The
first Leonid earthgrazer was seen by Robert Haas at 23.52 UT. After that moment,
it quickly changed…The Lion came
alive with some more earth grazers. Activity remained low during the first hours
(only a few Leonids/minute).
After 01.00 UT, a
cirrus curtain of a warm front covered the night sky very
quickly.
She gave us a beautiful halo around the full moon
witch was not precisely the right
night for this. Observing was very difficult at that moment ; only the brighter
members were still visible. Several times , there was a bigger gap through those
high clouds ; but not enough to do some serious observations. Leonid activity
was good ; but if she still will grow to storm levels…that was another big
question around 3.30 UT.
Miracle around
3.45 UT ; a big clear gap was coming into our directions....just in time ! I
picked up my minute counting. And I was very surprised ; Leonid activity finally
increased...already more than 15 Leonids / minute around 04.00 UT. Almost the
whole area around Leo, Hydra and
the big bear stayed clear during the maximum period. The moon was hidden behind
thicker clouds in the west. The centre of my vision was precisely the radiant of
the Leonids. And that sight at the peak moment was really astonishing with
regularly point meteors and bursts
of 4 –6, mostly faint Leonids, in
one time…The real peak moment appeared for me at 04.10 UT with 23 Leonids. I calculated
a ZHR of 2500 for the interval 04.00 – 04.10 UT. A –8 Fireball with a 3 minutes
golden trail at 04.22 UT was one
the highlights of the night. After 04.30 UT activity decreased quickly and
observing conditions became also better…
Also this year, I
am very happy that I witnessed a new, short lived Leonid meteor storm. A bit the
little sister of the 1999 Leonid meteor storm…I wasn’t easy to obtain a good
data set because of changing observing conditions (high clouds, gaps, changing
limited magnitude…) ; I hope that this report is still (partly) useable.
One thing is
clear for me ; all the displays
from 1998 till 2002 were very different and unique to see ! I hope that we will
also see some future rains during the coming period
2003-2007…
Leonids ; king of the meteor showers !!!
Michel Vandeputte - Ronse (Zuid Oost-Vlaanderen)
Dutch
Meteor Society
VVS Belgie - werkgroep meteoren
email : michelvandeputte@hotmail.com
http://www.gamma-andromedadot be/
"Leonid meteor storm 2002...the final
impact"