Nov 99 17/18* ( STORM)
Nothing beats the visual impression of the Leonids showers. Around
2.00 Am or UT 00hr I observed an noticeable increase of meteor activity.
The sky 'open up' around from 3:38 (UT 0138) onwards- with meteors
appearing everywhere. At peak (~0203 hr) 3-4 meteors per second
are common sight. There are so many meteors raining down the sky that I
give up counting them with my talking clock and recorder. Instead I just
enjoyed the celestial downpours which last approximately 15 minutes straddling
the predicted hours OF UT0206. Brief pockets of 'inactivity' were experienced
as if signaling a localized density change of the meteor debris as the
earth brushing pass them. By about half past four local time, the meteor
arrival rate drop as if someone turn down the 'celestial' tap and reduce
the flow to a trickle. By dawn activities still going on and we were treated
to red 'tear-drop' shaped meteors low in the horizon.
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Color - start with green and progress to yellow (
photographic film record the terminal red color not visible to naked eye).
The only exceptions are pre dawn Leonids which appear totally reddish in
color (preferential low elevation atmosphere scattering of longer
red wavelength).
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Speed - fast ?
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Brightness - more faint meteors around 3+/4+, very few fireballs
are seen
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Wake, train - bright meteors leaves wake lasting fractions of a
second. Seen one bright meteor leaving a 5 + minutes trained as depicted
in my 50 mm f/1.8 exposure below.
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Type of meteor trajectories observed
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saw one small yellow fuzzy 'arc' seen in Leo's Sickle ( from nearly 'head-ons'
meteor)
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saw two 30-35 degree length Leonids that 'disappear' in mid flight
and reappearing.
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saw some simultaneous 'bursts' of parallel pairs of meteors from
either 'side' of radiant point ( like a firework display)
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caught one or two very faint and thin - colorless uniform streak
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Near 'head on' by-pass of one long trail Leonid and another long trail
sporadic
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Two sporadic at different location / time that had long 'curved' trail
and comet like heads.
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Regions of the sky observed
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Ursa Major / Pole region - Visual
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At radiant - Leo's Sickle - Visual / Camera
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Procyon - Canis Major- Video system
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Impression of the Leonids
by emulsion /film
With only one 50mm and one 15 mm
working, I decided to place the only 50 mm camera framing the whole
Constellation of Leo later to Ursa Major- the big dipper and leaving
the wide angle ( 180 degree) fixed covering East - South direction. ( one
AE-1 and one AV-1 failed to fire probably due to current drain aggravated
by at cold, to add to the confusion I misplaced the remote control needed
to fire the EOS 100, the video system is not spare, unknown Hi-8 fault
prevent me from videotaping - and this happened at the height of the storm).
I was forced to resorted to visual observation - a move that I never
regret.