From: Alan M. MacRobert, Sky & Telescope
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 00:53:16 -0500



They're happening! I just came in from barely catching the end of the first
peak. I'm near Boston, far enough northeast so the Leonid radiant was above
the horizon by 11:20 p.m. EST when I started watching. This was 20 minutes
after the predicted time of the first peak.

Meteors from a radiant-on-the-horizon shower are gorgeous -- the few you
can see! These were long, slow streamers sailing up to 40 degrees across
the sky (since they were just skimming the upper atmosphere nearly
horizontally). Not quite one a minute from 11:20 to 11:32. Then they slowed
down to one every 2, 3, or 4 minutes until 12:20 a.m. EST. They had bright
orange heads and brief blue-gray trains. Limiting magnitude 4.2 in the
bright moonlight; very clear air.

More later....


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From: Alan M. MacRobert, Sky & Telescope
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 06:31:59 -0500


I saw the buildup to the second peak through thin clouds and moonlight and
then twilight too, from here near Boston.

Despite the bad conditions (limiting magnitude 4.6) I got one meteor a
minute from 4:22 to 4:50 a.m. EST,  29 of them from 4:50 to 5:07,  17 from
5:07 to 5:17,  then 24 from 5:22 to 5:37 (the predicted peak time) in
brightening dawn (lim. mag. about 4.0).  Then 22 from 5:37 to 5:50 with
dawn getting really bright. It seemed like they were increasing as dawn
came on.

Not as good as last year, but still a very unusual shower.