I don’t know if you got my Leonid report or not. I sent it to IMO ,
but not sure I sent it to you. So
here goes. We had excellent skies
at our observatory in Mounds, Oklahoma which is
about 40 miles south of Tulsa. The moon was really a problem. We had probably 130 Astronomy of Tulsa
Club members and one local TV station at our site. We saw nothing most of the night and
many were beginning to think it was going to be a non-Leonid year, but around 3:30a.m. we started
to see one or two about every five minutes then a little after 4a.m. they started coming and began
increasing in intensity. I started
counting at 10:17UT and my report follows.
Between 10:17UT and 11:07UT I saw 400 Leonids and 4 sporadics. The most intense time was between 10:37-10:52 where I saw 220. Most were dim and not as impressive as
last year but there were several that left a few seconds of train. I did notice that it seemed that many
were near Jupiter this year very near to the radiant as compared with last year
when they were all over the sky.
This could be because of the Moon also. I really think that this would have been
an awesome storm if the moon had not been there. Before 4a.m. my news lady from the TV station
was getting worried because she had told the public about the awesome display
we would be seeing and so far it had not happened. When it did start, she became very
excited and said the wait was well worth it. We went on live for the morning show at 5:30a.m. and talked
about the experience we had just seen. Overall not as bright
or as many could be seen as last year but it still was a storm and one to
remember for years to come.
Observer: David Stine
Observing Site:
Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity Observatory(Astronomy
Club of Tulsa)
Mounds, OK.
Lat. 35.8307N Long. 96.1471W
Date: 2002 November 19
Time: 10:17-11:07UT
Sky: Clear during entire observing time
LM: +4.5 entire time
Field
of view: Centered on Jupiter, video
camera, but saw many in the north also.
Mg. of meteors – 70% 3rd Mg. or less. 10 were probably brighter than
Jupiter with 1 that left a 5 second
Train.
Period(UT) Leonids Non-Leonids
10:17-10:22 41 0
10:22-10:27 38 0
10:27:10:32 37 0
10:32-10:37 52 0
10:37-10:42 61 2
10:42-10:47 59 1
10:47-10:52 50 0
10:52-10:57 24 0
10:57-11:02 20 1
11:02-11:07 18 0
Total Leonids during observing period 400 and 4 sporadics