A Much Better Show This Year (Although There Wasn't Any Storm)
Second year in a row, we observed Leonids meteor shower from our home in Boston, MA on the night of November 17/18, 2000.
After reading forecasts by astronomers Robert McNaught and David Asher, we decided that the best time to see the maximum shower was around 07:51 UT (02:51 EST). Later on, after completing our observing session we would read that the actual peak occurred between 07:00 and 07:30 UT, while we were sleeping!
That night we went out around 02:35 am EST. We walked down to
the seashore, now our usual spot to observe Leonids. The
coordinates of the location are as follows:
42 deg 18 min 45 sec North latitude
71 deg 02 min 45 sec West longitude
We were welcomed by clear skies, but also by a waning gibbous Moon which was located right in the middle of the meteor radiant! Limiting magnitude (in the Leo region) was less than 4.0. And it was as cold as last year, the termometer hitting subfreezing values.
We shared the observing area with Gamze; her section covered the east of the meridian passing from Regulus, I turned myself toward the western horizon. The first meteor was seen by Gamze at 02:41 am EST. Its brightness was equal to Regulus. The last meteor was seen again by her at 03:17 am EST. After seeing that one we ceased observing, frozen on that chilly New England night!
During our observing session of continuous 36 minutes (almost half of previous year), we counted a total of 34 Leonids (nearly one per minute), despite strong moonlight and urban light pollution. Gamze had seen 19 of them, I counted the remaining 15 (she is always the winner!). We both saw the brightest of all to the west of the Moon, rushing toward Sirius at 03:12 am EST. Its estimated magnitude was -4 and it left a trail almost 10 degree long!
Their brightnesses were as follows:
* one third were real bright, around magnitude -3 and -4.
* about a dozen rivaled Sirius reaching magnitude -1.
* half of the remaining ones were as bright as Procyon (magnitude
~ 0.4) and the rest as Regulus (magnitude ~ 1.4).
Most of the meteors left long trails, lasting almost two seconds. The brighter ones colored bluish-white while fainter meteors were yellow. We noticed that Leonids came in groups of at least half a dozen, separated by almost regular intervals of about five minutes. This year they were moving really fast. Near the end of our observation, their frequency dropped noticeably. Thus we decided to get back inside, to warm up ourselves and to get back to sleep.
A drawing of two impressive Leonid trails will be posted here eventually.
OBSERVATION REPORTS OF LEONIDS '00 AND LINKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Armagh
Observatory, predictions of Robert McNaught and David Asher
Preliminary
Results of Leonids '00, The Astronomer
IMO Leonids
'00 Preliminary Results
Leonids
'00 Observation Results, Dutch Meteor Society
BAA Meteor
Section
History
of Leonids from Gary Kronk
NASA Leonid Mission
Homepage
P.
Jenniskens' Leonid MAC website
Royal
Observatory of Belgium
Science@NASA
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