(meteorobs) Leonid Report

Hello list, here is my Leonid report for Nov. 18-19.  It was a poor showing but it was still an enjoyable evening.  After a day of hail storms and 6 inches of rain we were lucky to see anything here in Tulsa Ok. But the skies cleared and it was a beautiful night at our Tulsa Astronomy Club Observatory south of Tulsa.  The highlight of the night was not a Leonid even though we did see some nice Leonids, but a Taurid Fireball.  It lit up the sky, was very green and left a short bright train that lasted about 3 seconds.  That one was worth the night alone.  Not too many club members braved the 40 degree temperatures, but KC Lobrecht, Gerry Andries, and Steve Chapman viewed with me.  Tried to view Encke and T7 but were unsuccessful.  Great night, beautiful skies, several M-objects naked eye and a beautiful Milky Way.  Nights like this make you glad you are in this hobby.

 

Observer:   David Stine     

Date:  11/18-19/03

Begin:  0500UT      End: 0903UT

Location:  Tulsa Astronomy Club Observatory site-45 miles south of Tulsa, OK

96.1471 W     35.8307 N

Method:  Tape, facing East, 0% obscured, no breaks really 4 straight hours of viewing from a lounge chair.

Limiting MG. 5.5

 

 

Period 1   0500-0600 UT     Leo(2)   Taurid(1)

Dead Time = 0 min:  Teff=1.0

AVg. LM = 5.5

 

Period 2  0600-0700 UT      Leo((4)   Taurid(3)

Dead Time = 0 min.   Teff=1.0

Avg. LM = 5.5

 

Period 3 0700-0800  UT      Leo(3)    Taurid(2)   Spo(1)

Dead Time = 0 min.    Teff=1.0

Avg. LM = 5.8Mg

 

Period 4  0800-0900  UT     Leo((3)   Spo(1)

Dead Time =  0 min.    Teff=1.0

Avg. LM = 5.5 Mg

 

Period 5  0900 -0903 UT    Leo(1)

Dead Time = 0 min.  Teff 0.03

Avg. LM = 5.4 Mg.

 

Showers Observed

 

LEO       (13)

TAU       (6)

SPO     (2)

 

Magnituude Distribution 

 

Leo   -3(0)   -2(0)    -1(2)   0(5)  +1(2)  +2(3)  +3(1)

Tau   -3(1)   -2(0)    -1(0)   0(0)  +1(3)  +2(2)   +3(0)

Spo   -3(0)   -2(0)   -1(1)   0(1)   +1(0)  +2(0)   +3(0)

 

Meteor Data

P1

05:17    LEO                  0MG.                Train Silver white in color, shot from eastern horizon through Gemini

05:25    TAU                  +2                    Shot straight through Orion out of Taurus

05:58    LEO                  +2                    Out of Leo Sickle, very fast no train, Sickle just above horizon

 

P2

06:25    LEO                  +3                    Out of Sickle, nice white train of 10 degrees

06:26    LEO                  +2                    Out of Sickle

06:35    TAU                  +1                    Out of Taurus going to the NE

06:37    TAU                  -3                     Highlight of the night-Taurid Fireball, Lit up the sky, very green, started with bright -0Mg

                                                            Flash that increased to -3 bolide leaving a three second second greenish tail that twisted

                                                            And turned in the wind.  Just awesome!!!!

06:42    TAU                  +1                   

06:56    LEO                  +2                    Near Procyon with a 13-15 degree white train

06:58    LEO                  +1                    Came out of the top of sickle. Long white train of 15 degrees

 

P3

07:24    LEO                  +1                    Near Pollux

07:36    LEO                  0                      Went through Big Dipper after coming out of Leo. Train of 30 degrees

07:40    LEO                  0                      Another Long Train of 30 degrees. From Leo through the heart of Orion, left train of 5 sec

                                                            Best Leonid of the evening.

07:42    TAU                  +2                   

07:48    TAU                  +1                    Another Taurid steaking out of Taurus toward Orion

07:58    SPO                 0                      No train, out of Auriga going to Gemini

 

P4

08:10    SPO                 -1                     Nice one coming out of Auriga directly to a path to the Sickle.  I call a backwards

                                                            Leonid if there was such a thing.

08:13    LEO                  -1                     Long train  15-20 degrees. Path between Pleides and Perseus

08:21    LEO                  0                      Nice long white train

 

P5

09:00    LEO                  0                      Another nice train across the sky from Leo toward the west.

09:03    LEO                  -1                     Nice one to end the night on. Another one spanning from Leo to almost the western horizon.

 

 

This sprinkle of course was nothing like the memorable fireballs of 98 and the 2002 Storm and 2003 Mini-Storm.  Looking forward to the Geminis in a couple of weeks. 

 

David Stine

Comet - 1

Observing Chairman  Astronomy Club of Tulsa.