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Leonidi 1998

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Di seguto una serie di osservzioni delle Leonidi 1998 fatte da appassionati in tutto il mondo

Here is my report for November 17/18. Since Ottawa weather conditions
were poor around (and away from) the Leonids max, Cathy and I headed
down to High Bridge, New Jersey, joining Wayne Hally. We hoped to get
at least some Leonids observing. The night of Nov 16/17 turned up to
be overcast, but it cleared late the next day. We were able to get
the next night mostly clear. Our team of NAMN members observed at
the NJAA observatory. We arrived there around 10:30 local edt time,
but stars quickly disapeared as a scattered cloud came over us. I had
to wait until 12:30 local for skies to clear enough so I could start
recording. Temperature were cool but comfortable for this time of the
year. I was very warm in my sleeping bag. I must have overdressed,
thinking it would be colder? I guess those observers in NJ have it easy
for the winter. It was still autumn in NJ while snow and freezing rain
threatened Ottawa. Anyway, I observed until dawn, for a total
of 4.65 teff (about 4 and a half hours of actual observing time).
There were a few thin clouds at times later at night, interfering
only slightly. My total count is 122 meteors (77 Leonids, 2 S.Taurids,
2 Alpha Monocerotids and 41 sporadics). A few sporadics may be possible
N.Taurids, but were too far from the radiant to confirm. Best Leonids
hour had 27 meteors. Although they were not extraordinary rates, they
were still enhanced. There was a good number of bright meteors and
fireballs. Brightest Leonid was my first of the night, a magn -6
blue/white fireball. It flashed after a long 40 degree path, and left
a persistent 20 second train witnessed by all. Later on, there was a
magn -4 Leonid that left a 12 second train. Three Leonids of magn -3
and two more of magn -2. Also, numerous fainter meteors, most commonly
at magn +3 and +4. My limiting magnitude was surprisingly good at
6.3. Although the NJ sky is not nearly as dark as my usual site
back home, I could still count almost as many stars. Perhaps the
"seeing" was better than ususal for that particular night?
While observing, I also ran a camera (with B&W 400) for most of the
night. There is a very good chance the camera caught at least 2 or
more Leonids. Of of those that cut across the camera field was a
magn.-4 fireball. I also may have caught some of the very short
Leonids I saw close to the radiant. Cathy was also doing photo,
using 2 cameras and experimenting with some unusual film such as
infrared. Films are being processed now. Photo results will be
posted as soon as possible. Here is data summary for my visual
observing below:

BEGIN: 5:30 UT (00:30 EST) END: 10:50 UT (5:50 EST)
LOCATION: Long: -74d 33'54" West; Lat: 40d 40'52" North, Elevation:253m
City & State: High Bridge, New Jersey, USA (IMO location#25186)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not watched.

PERIOD(UT)    FIELD   Teff   F      LM    SPO LEO STA AMO
5:30-6:56     SE80    0.99 1.03   6.30    3   5   1   0
6:56-8:07     SE70    1.08 1.00   6.33   13 19   1   1
8:15-9:15     "       1.00 1.02   6.35   13 21   0   1
9:15-10:15    S70     1.00 1.01   6.01    8 27   0   0
10:15-10:50   "       0.58 1.08   5.23    4   5   0   0
--------------------------------------------------------
Totals:               4.65                41 77   2   2 = 122

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5

SPO     0   0   0   0   0   1   2   1   8 10 15   4
LEO     1   0   1   3   2   2   9   7 15 19 16   2
STA     0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   0   1
AMO     0   0   0   0   0   1   0   0   0   1   0   0
-----------------------------------------------------
Totals: 1   0   1   3   2   4 11   8 23 31 31   7
-----------------------------------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (in observer's FOV):
10% from 5:30 to 5:40 UT
15% from 5:40 to 5:44 UT
5% from 8:33 to 9:00 UT
2% from 9:08 to 9:30 UT
3% from 9:30 to 9:50 UT
10% from 10:28 to 10:50 UT
-----------------------------------------------------

Total dead time: 43 minutes (including plotting time)
Dead time plots: 30sec each (2 plots)
Breaks: UT
5:44-6:21
7:21-7:23
7:44-7:47
8:07-8:15

. . . .
Pierre Martin
. . * . * .
================================
================================
VISUAL LEONIDS OBSERVATION FROM IRAN : FINAL RESULTS

It is our final results of Leonids observation by a team of 16 observer.

Time (UT) ZHR
_______________________

20:30 - 21:00 159 +/- 57

21:00 - 21:30 111 +/- 41

21:30 - 22:00 133 +/- 42

22:00 - 22:30                 8   +/- 25

22:30 - 23:00                 82 +/- 22

23:00 - 23:30                 48 +/- 15

23:30 - 00:00 52 +/- 14

00:00 - 00:30                 34 +/- 10

00:30 - 01:00                 48 +/- 11

01:00 - 01:30                 45 +/- 11

Regards
Reza Rezaai
Astronomy Group
Physics Department
Sharif University of Technology
Tehran , Iran
===========================
===========================

Visual Observing Form - Summary Report

Day:_16 Month:_11 Year:_98 Begin: 19_h_28_m End: 21_h_15_m

Location long. _117_°_34_'_42_" E latit. _40_°_23_'_47_" N IMO
code:_______
Elevation: 860 m.

Site__Xinglong, Hebei_________________________ Country: _CHINA_

Observer__Jin Zhu_____________________________ IMO code:_______

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| LEO | 151 | +23 | | | | | | | | |
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Period |Field |Teff| F | lm| LEO| ___| ___| ___| ___| ___| ___|___|Spor|
| (UT) |RA Dec| h | | m |M| N|M| N|M| N|M| N|M| N|M| N|M| N|M| N|M|N|

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|1928-1943| | |0.25| 1 |6.0|C|20| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|6||---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|1943-1959| | |0.25| 1 | |C|14| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|9|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|1959-2014| | |0.25| 1 | |C|26| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|4|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|2014-2029| | |0.25| 1 | |C|35| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|4|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|2029-2044| | |0.25| 1 |5.5|C|22| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|3|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|2044-2100| | |0.25| 1 |5.4|C|24| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|5|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
|2100-2115| | |0.25| 1 |5.9|C|31| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |C|8|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
| - | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|

|---------|---|---|----|---|---|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|-|--|
| TOTAL | | |1.75| 1 | | 172| | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||39|

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Shower| -6| -5| -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 ||<-6| tot|
|------|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|----|
| LEO | 6| 6| 6 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 31 | 18 | 32 | 17 | 13 | | 7| 170|
|------|---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|----|
|spor. | 0| 0| 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 6 | | 0| 35|

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------
|Time   | Nr | N | lm |Time   | Nr | N | lm |Time   | Nr | N | lm |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19:32 | 17 | 12 | 6.0| 19:32 | 8 | 11 | 6.0| 19:50 | 4 | 7 | 5.1|
| 20:32 | 17 | 9 | 5.1| 20:32 | 8 | 10 | 5.9|       |    |    |    |
| 20:53 | 17 | 10 | 5.5| 20:53 | 8 | 8 | 5.3|       |    |    |    |
| 21:08 | 17 | 10 | 5.5| 21:08 | 8 | 8 | 5.3|       |    |    |    |
| 21:14 | 17 | 11 | 5.9| 21:13 | 8 | 10 | 5.9|       |    |    |    |
--------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------         ----------------
| Obscured Field | % | Obscured Field | % |       |      Breaks    |
|-------------------------------------------|       |----------------|
| 19:28 to 21:15 | _0 | _____ to _____ | __ |       | _____ to _____ |
-------------------------------------------         ----------------
K=___0__, F=1/(1-K)=__1___ (same as on summary report)

Time for plotting: __0__ sec/meteor, __0__m total, Breaks:__0__m total.

Net observed time Teff=_105_m = _1.75_h (same as on summary report).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments:

The total number of Leonids is 172 in 1.75 hours, which gives HR=98 for
Leonids. Corrected to LM=6.5 with r=2.0 gives 160, and considering the
radiant position gives ZHR=200.

It seems that visual observation without careful record may easily give
wrong impression, at least for my case in this year's Leonids. During my
observation, I felt that the ZHR could be something like 500, and more
than
50% Leonids were fireballs. This impression might be from some
psychological
reason that the most intensive and most bright parts always gave strong
impression and stay longer in memory. :)

There did have many bright Leonids which were very beautiful. Before
starting
recoding, one -9 fireball left a train for more than 15 minutes! Some
fireballs
lightened the sky background, and I missed several which were out of my
f.o.v.
but I could felt them - they are not included in the record.

2 Leonids and 4 sporadics were not recorded with magnitudes on tape, but
they
were within my f.o.v. 2 minutes are excluded for changing tapes and very
short un-concentrations.

I heard twice sonic booms from my west remote direction, but could not
connect
them with any fireballs. Only first time was recorded on tape.

It seemed that some LEOs may selected as SPOs at first half hour, for they
were too far from the radiant (more than 100 degrees?) - appearing above
my west horizon. Then I realized that they appeared so frequently, seemed
as frequently as other LEOs, and they could backwards line to the radiant,
so I later defined them as LEOs. However, I didn't check with Taurids'
radiants, and they may well between Leo and my west horizon, so they may
not be able to be distinguished from TAUs? (I had only observation of
ORI last month, and with no experience with N. and S. Taurids.) Now at
this
moment when I write this, checking the slow velocity of NTAs and STAs, I
guess that some of my LEOs (including some very bright one) could also be
TAUs...

This was my 5th meteor observations, so I was still not quite sure about
my magnitude estimations. Also it seemed that I had worse LM than
experienced observer. It's nice that there were several very experienced
observers from DMS who made observation (much longer) at the same site,
and I think that they will report their results later, so it would be
nice to see how much difference my data could be from their results.

My central field was zenith at first, then moved to southwest with about
60 degrees (or higher) above horizon, perhaps 20 degrees west of the
meridian.

Also clear skies next night, but not making standard observation because
of
so many other stuffs, while knowing that there were several much
experienced
persons observed at the same site. :)

With my best regards, Jin

=========================================================
Jin Zhu                           | Tel.: +86-10-62759888 (O)
Beijing Astronomical Observatory |       +86-10-68392030 (H)
Chinese Academy of Sciences       |       +86-314-5053035-806 (Schmidt
dome)
P. R. China                       | Fax : +86-10-62759888

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
email: zj@bac.pku.edu.cn or jinzhu@sun.ihep.ac.cn
WWW Home Page: http://vega.bac.pku.edu.cn/~zj
Pager: zhu@mail.263.net.cn (only Sub. line) OR +86-10-64256688 PIN 82333

=========================================================
raw data follows...

981116/17
Time: local
Site: Xinglong
Observer: Jin Zhu
Method: visual; tape

3:20 preparation
3:22 many bright meteors, many with trains
feeling: meteors everywhere
3:28 begin
3:28 LEO green 1s-train
3:28 LEO +0
3:28 LEO +1
3:28 LEO +2
3:29 LEO? +2 train
3:30 SPO +3
3:30 SPO +4
field center: zenith
3:32 LM: 17/12
3:33 LM: 8/11
3:33 LEO -10 long-train, red-green > 5 minutes
3:33 LEO +3
3:33 LEO +5
3:34 LEO +4
3:34 LEO +2
3:34 SPO +4
3:35 SPO +3
3:35 SPO +3
3:36 LEO +3
3:36 LEO +3
3:38 LEO +3
3:38 SPO +2
3:38 LEO +1
3:38 LEO +5
3:38 LEO +4
3:41 LEO +4
3:41 LEO +3
3:42 LEO +1
3:42 LEO +4
3:43 SPO
3:43 LEO +3
3:45 SPO +3
3:45 SPO +5
3:46 LEO -6 train > 5 minutes
3:47 LEO +2
3:47 LEO +2
3:49 SPO +3
3:50 LM: 4/7
3:51 SPO +5
3:52 SPO +0
3:54 LEO +1
3:54 LEO +4
3:54 LEO +3
3:54 SPO +2
3:54 SPO +4
3:56 boom in west (remote)
3:56 LEO +3
3:56 LEO -3
tape replace
3:57 LEO +1
3:57 LEO +1
3:58 LEO +3
3:58 SPO +5
3:58 LEO +5
3:58 LEO +5
4:00 SPO +2
4:00 SPO?
4:01 LEO +3
4:02 SPO -1 long train
4:03 LEO -2
4:04 LEO -1
4:04 LEO +2
4:04 LEO +3
4:04 LEO +1
4:04 LEO -3
4:05 LEO +4
4:05 LEO +4
4:07 LEO +2 train
4:07 LEO -12 green extremely beautiful
4:07 LEO +4
4:07 LEO +4
4:07 LEO +3
4:07 LEO +5
4:08 SPO +5
4:09 airplane
4:09 LEO -2?
4:09 LEO +3
4:09 LEO +5
4:10 LEO +5
4:10 LEO +4
4:10 LEO +2
4:10 LEO +3
4:10 LEO +3
4:11 LEO +1
4:12 LEO +0
4:12 airplane near Leo with flash +1
4:13 LEO -4
4:14 LEO -6
4:14 LEO +5
4:14 SPO
4:14 LEO -4
4:14 LEO +5
4:14 LEO +1
4:14 LEO +1
4:14 LEO +2
4:16 LEO -2
4:16 LEO -2
4:16 LEO -6 bolide
4:16 LEO -8 beautiful, train
4:16 LEO -1
4:17 LEO -3
4:17 LEO +0
4:17 LEO +0
4:17 LEO -7
4:18 LEO -2
4:20 LEO -5
4:21 LEO -4
4:23 LEO -1
4:24 LEO +1
4:24 LEO -3
4:25 LEO -3
4:25 LEO -2
4:25 LEO +1
4:26 LEO -2
4:26 LEO -1
4:26 LEO +3
4:27 LEO +3
4:27 LEO +5
4:27 SPO -1
4:27 SPO -4
4:27 LEO -6
4:28 SPO +0
4:28 LEO +3
4:28 LEO +4
4:28 LEO -4 green
4:28 LEO +3
4:30 LEO -2
4:30 LEO -5 green with red head, train
4:31 LEO -1
4:32 LM: 17/9 8/10
4:33 LEO +3 1s-train
4:34 LEO +1 train
4:34 LEO +1
4:34 LEO +1
4:36 LEO -6
4:36 LEO -9
4:36 LEO +4
4:37 LEO +2
4:37 SPO +4
4:38 LEO -8
4:38 LEO +5
4:39 LEO +0
4:39 SPO +5
4:39 LEO +4
4:40 SPO
4:40 LEO +1
4:40 airplane +1
4:41 LEO +1
4:42 LEO -2
4:42 LEO +1
4:43 LEO +3
4:43 LEO +1
4:43 LEO +1
4:43 very bright one at back side
4:44 LEO +2
4:45 change tape
4:46 LEO +1
4:46 LEO +1
4:46 LEO +0
4:46 LEO -12 bolide, flash lighten the tape recorder
4:46 LEO +0
4:47 SPO +3
4:47 flash, train
4:48 LEO +1
4:48 LEO +3
4:48 LEO +2
4:48 SPO +3
4:49 LEO? +3
4:50 flashing on sky
4:50 SPO +4
4:50 LEO +3
4:50 LEO? +5
4:51 LEO +3
4:51 LEO? +2
4:52 sleepy
4:52 LEO +3
4:52 LEO +2
4:52 SPO +3
4:53 LM: 17/10 8/8
4:53 LEO +4
4:53 LEO +1
4:53 LEO X
4:54 LEO -5 green
4:54 LEO -4
4:56 LEO +2
4:56 LEO +1
4:58 LEO -5
4:59 SPO +5
4:59 flashing on sky
5:00 SPO +4
5:00 LEO -6
5:00 LEO -1
5:01 LEO -3
5:01 LEO -1
5:02 LEO +1
5:03 SPO +4
5:03 LEO +3
5:03 LEO +1
5:03 LEO +1
5:03 LEO -5
5:03 bright one, too low
5:04 LEO -2
5:04 LEO -1
5:04 LEO -1
5:04 LEO -4
5:04 LEO +1
5:04 LEO +4
5:04 LEO +2
5:05 flashing on sky
5:05 SPO +1
5:06 satellite +3
5:06 SPO +3
5:06 SPO +2
5:07 LEO +4
5:08 SPO +4
5:08 LEO +2
5:08 LM: 17/10 8/8
5:08 LEO +3
5:08 LEO +1
5:09 LEO +3
5:10 sleepy
5:11 LEO -5 red
5:11 SPO +4
5:11 LEO +3
5:11 LEO +3
5:11 LEO +0 wide train
5:11 LEO +3
5:11 LEO +2
5:13 LM: 8/10
5:14 SPO +3
5:14 LEO +5
5:14 LEO -2
5:14 LM: 17/11
5:14 LEO +4
5:14 LEO +1
5:15 end
================================
================================
November 16/17
Belleplain State Park-Woodbine NJ
Latitude     39.23N
Longitude 74.81W
(Fred S-Is that close enough?)
I used a minicassette recorder for my observaions. Teff=1'17" with no
breaks. Observed from 0157 to 0315 EST.
List of magnitudes for each Leonid
-10     1
-6      3
-5      2
-4      3
-3      6 + 1 SPO
-2      4
-1     12 + 1 SPO
0      8 + 2 SPO
+1     1 + 5 SPO
+2     3
+3     1
================================
=================================
In this year, I was not able to see the outburst of Leonids storm, but I
saw the best annual Leonid shower that I had ever seen. I was able to
see a very bright fireball which magnitude was -8 with a persistent train.
I suppose that you will be able to enjoy. Home page URL are as below.

Very bright fireball and with its train. (almost in Japanese)
http://mars.obs.misato.wakayama.jp/~bunji/981118trans.htm
http://www.cyborg.ne.jp/~kaicho/meteor/leo1998/leo_trall.htm
http://www.cyborg.ne.jp/~kaicho/meteor/leo1998/leo98.htm#fire
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~JN-/Leonids.html
http://www.nao.ac.jp/pio/leo/leo98nif.jpg
http://www.ncsm.city.nagoya.jp/astro/leonids.html
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/KID/leo98/zu1.GIF
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/KID/leo98/leo98.htm

Clear skies, Takema.

Sezione Meteore