From: Paulo M. Raymundo, Salvador, Brazil 
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 21:45:27 -0000


On November 19 we observed the 1767 peak from Brazil (latitude = -13
deg.). As expected, the full Moon made observing conditions of the
Leonids the worst imaginable reducing the number of visible faint
meteors and smoke trains. For that reason we had a limiting magnitude
of 3.7 with the unaided eye, which made the shower not as spectacular
as the fireball outburst of 1998 or the meteor storm of 2001. But we
still saw a marvelous display with several -5 magnitude fireballs from
1:36 to 5:11 a.m. local time (UT-2). Amongst the many Leonids, a
couple of earth-grazers were the most memorable. Residual smoke trains
were very frequent but could hardly be seen for more than a few
seconds, let alone be captured on film due to moonlight interference.