From: From: Ed Cannon, Austin, Texas, USA
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:27:00 -0600


The weather was nice, a little chilly.  Lots of twinkling
stars.  LM surprisingly low (under 5?? -- guess I'm
getting old).

Leonids summary:

Site: approx 45 km east of Austin (E of 30.30N, 97.75W)
Time: 7:40-11:00 Nov 19 2003 UTC (using WWV)
Teff: 155 minutes
LEO: 36; Other: 23

Brightest, a -3 LEO, was not during Teff.

Details later.


----
From: Ed Cannon, Austin, Texas, USA
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 21:29:12 -0600

The weather was very nice, and with almost all of the eastern
USA overcast, I felt duty-bound to go out and look!

Observing site: 30.37N, 97.22W, elev. about 150m.
Before moonrise, 8 stars counted in Auriga triangle (#17),
6 stars in Perseus (#2) -- LM about +5.0.
About 5% sky obstruction (trees at periphery).
Looking about 55 degrees up at about azimuth 45 (northeast).

Observing periods (all times with appended :00 implied)
Period__UTC Teff LEO Others
07:40-07:50 .167  1   1
07:52-08:02 .167  0   1
08:03-08:13 .167  0   3
08:14-08:19 .083  2   2

Moonrise noticed, changed position to looking NNW (55 degrees
up at azimuth 350), still about 5% obstructed by trees.
Only 7 stars counted in Auriga after moonrise -- LM +4.4?
2 LEO and 1 other seen during this interlude.  Note rise in
Leonids at about 9:30.

Period__UTC Teff LEO Others
08:30-08:35 .083  1   0
08:36-08:41 .083  1   1
08:44-08:49 .083  0   0
08:50-09:00 .167  1   1
09:03-09:08 .083  3   0
09:09-09:14 .083  0   1
09:15-09:20 .083  0   0
09:21-09:26 .083  0   0
09:27-09:32 .083  1   0
09:35-09:40 .083  1   1
09:41-09:46 .083  1   2
09:47-09:52 .083  2   0
09:53-09:58 .083  1   0
10:00-10:05 .083  1   0
10:06-10:11 .083  1   0
10:12-10:17 .083  4   2 (-1 SPO SE->W)
10:18-10:23 .083  1   1
10:24-10:29 .083  5   2
10:30-10:35 .083  2   0
10:36-10:41 .083  1   0
10:43-10:48 .083  0   3
10:49-10:54 .083  5   1
10:55-11:00 .083  1   1


Teff=155, LEO=36, Other=23

At 10:12-17 I rejected one meteor that I thought I saw;
it would have been a LEO.

-3 LEO was seen at 8:26, not in Teff, brightest meteor seen.
I saw at least a couple of SPO from the direction of Ursa
Major, and two definite Taurids.  Maybe half a dozen of the
SPO, including the -1, were from the SE.

If it had been Saturday or Sunday morning I would have
continued longer, but I had to go to work on Wednesday.

I'm puzzled by my low limiting magnitudes when I go out
into the country, but maybe it just wasn't as dark in this
place as I hoped.  After moonrise, looking to NNW I had the
Moon to my right and Austin sky glow to my left.  Maybe I'm
getting old eyes; my eyeglasses are a recent prescription.



---
From: Peter Brunone, Dallas, TX 
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:09:43 -0600

        This being my first report, it's more conversational than
detailed.  Then again, with what I saw last night, it's hard to care.

        From 01:00 to 03:15 Central US Time (07:00-10:15 UT), my friend
and I saw what appeared to be three Leonids, none above mag 3.  One left
a train for approximately 2 seconds.  There was one (Northern Apex?)
about mag 1 that covered a good 40 deg of sky from directly overhead to
due southeast, and two mag 4 sporadics.

        The most interesting thing we saw may not have been a meteor at
all -- my mind can't justify it as such -- but maybe the folks here can
help.  We were driving due east at 00:30 local (06:30 UT) and about 40
deg above the horizon right in front of us, we saw an extremely bright
(around mag -5 maybe) light that lasted less than a second and traveled
no more than five degrees down.  Really, it reminded me of a ball from a
roman candle or some other man-made pyrotechnic, but we didn't see
anything else like it in the area.  There might have been a train, but
it could have been just the streak left on my retina.  Could this have
been a leftover Taurid?  It was brighter than any meteor in my
experience which, admittedly, is quite limited.