LOCAL OBSERVATION OF LEONID METEORS
November 17, 1998
Annapolis Valley - Nova Scotia
Well just got in from a well worthwhile trip to St. Croix to observe
the Leonids, and WHAT A SHOW!!! Present were myself, Mike B., Shawn,
John Connelly, Paul Evans and Joanne Miriam.
Mike and I arrived at 1:50am and observed easily 50 meteors in about
a 40% sky in the north, north east which was clear of cloud. The
skies cooperated occasionally and the leonids flew all over the
place. Here's the numbers I counted. Limiting magnitude was ~
4-5.3mag.
1:50am-2:30am 50
2:30am-3:00am 53
3:00am-3:15am 28 several -2 to -7mag meteors
3:15am-3:30am 38 several bright ones leaving 30-50sec trains
3:30am-3:45am 40 had a burst of 7 meteors in 10 seconds
3:45am-4:00am 41 one at -10mag est. and another at -11 mag with
trails lasting over 3 minutes, simply amazing!!
4:00am-4:15am 38 one est. at -13 or brighter left a train
lasting 3 min forming an 'S' shape as it dissolved.
ended recording..noticed that they dropped in numbers after 4:30am
many had bright terminal bursts.
one worth mentioning was as Mike and I were at Bayers Road shopping
Petro Canada getting gas we saw a fireball with a bright terminal
burst and a loud 'POP!' sound was heard very close to the bright
burst.
Was a VERY good night!!!
Darren Talbot
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LEONIDS FROM HORTON BLUFF: Here is a summary of what I saw of the
Leonids at Horton Bluff.
OBSERVATION PERIOD: 02:15 AST to 06:34 AST. Minus periods from 04:50
to 05:00 and 05:15 AST to 6:00 AST. In about 200 minutes of observating
some part of the sky.
LOCATION: Avonport, N.S. (Horton Bluff overlooking Minas Basin) dark
surroundings and sheltered. A good view of the whole sky. For most of
the 1st hour of the observation period, meteors observed were what I could
see with the back of my head to the NW, I was reclining on a deck lounge
chair, with a good view overhead. In the 2nd hour I reversed my position,
having the back of my head to the SE. With the development of hazy cloud 3/4 of
the way through this period, I began to move about a bit more to cover
the clearest areas of sky.
CONDITIONS: Minus 2.5 deg C. Leo was clear of the horizon in the East.
Sky mostly clear for the first two hours, some cloud was a problem in the
southward, especially around 02:30 AST (Sirius and Orion stars nearly
disappeared); it improved by 03:00 and remained so til about 04:15 at
which time hazy cloud began to show, by 04:40 it was generally hazy all over,
but bright meteors were still visible. Due to cloud, decided to go inside to
warm up. While drinking tea, continued to observe from upper deck
windows facing the Basin. Meteors seen through thin cloud.
COMMENTS: Using video tape, recorded comments and times for later
reference.
No Leonid storm but it was still probably the best display of meteors I
have enjoyed. From the beginning, the brightness of the meteors
impressed me! 70 to 80 percent of those I saw were easily brighter than 1st
magnitude, frequently ending in a bright burst of light, lots of "zip",
several leaving glowing trails that persisted for several seconds after.
Those moving near overhead to the SW round to the NE tended to leave the
longest trails. Generally, the most striking ones were seen in this
zone.
There were spurts of activity where they would follow one after the
other, within seconds, in the same part of the sky. Then there would be a few
minutes without any activity. The best activity seemed to be in the
vacinity of the Dippers but over the period bright meteors were seen in
every part of the sky.
The origin seemed to be slightly above and in front of the
backward-question-mark of Leo.
There were many bright ones, bright enough to light the ground, or the
backlight cloud between me and the meteor.
SAMPLES....
02:50 AST very nice, really bright burst leaving a streak, its glow
persisted almost a minute after, contorted into a corkscrew shape.
02:52 another streaking down to the NW through Cassiopeia to the
horizon, this was followed within seconds by 2 bright ones together through the
Dippers .
03:34 bright burst in U.Maj followed by 4 bright ones, one right after
the other, nearer the horizon from U.Maj.
03:46 East, down from Leo, its trail persisted
03:56 a bright burst in Cancer lighting up the ground and leaving a
lingering glow.
04:08 a really bright one in Gemini.
04:12 AST One nearly overhead, in Gemini, a real beauty!, Magnitude must
have been close to -10, left a reverse "S" shaped glowing trail. The
glow was still naked eye visible at 04:17 as a diffuse patch drifting toward
the star, Procyon.
04:42 very bright, -6 or -7
04:43 zenith to Casseopeia, bright
05:08 bright one to the north, could be seen through the cloud, seemed
(cloud) to light up and flash like in lightning storm.
06:34 a bright streak in west, down through Orion, last one recorded,
sky getting too bright.
METEORS SIGHTED: At least 194 Leonids + about 8 or 10 sporadics. The
sporadics were noticably slower and dimmer(except for one).
Sherman Williams
Avonport, N.S. B0P 1B0