From: Mark Davis, Florida
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 09:06:54 -0500

After my first attempt for the 1998 Leonids was washed out Sunday
night/Monday morning, I was able to go out again this morning, and with some
dodging of clouds, get some observing in. No meteor storm was here this
morning, but I was really impressed with the number of negative magnitude
meteors. I set up at my dark sky site in Awendaw under perfectly clear skies
with the Leonid radiant barely above the horizon. My early arrival was
rewarded with several "sky-crossers" and "horizon-huggers" that seemed to
travel for minutes. But clouds moved in shortly after my first hour, so a
roadtrip was ordered.

Off to Sullivan's Island in hopes of a sea breeze pushing clouds away. On
the drive there I could see bright meteors "dropping" from the sky...even
seeing one very bright one in the rear view mirrors. I pushed on the gas
pedal a little harder.

My relocation worked as I arrived on the island under clear skies. Quickly
setting up, the breeze not only helped with cloud cover, but also
mosquitoes, as the 60+ degree (F) temps were bringing them out.
Unfortunately, once again about an hour later, clouds moved in ending my
session for the night.

Of the 85 Leonids I saw, 12 were bright enough to be classified as a
fireball. The brightest was a -7.0 magnitude. I was also impressed with the
train production of the Leonids, with trains visible for dozens of seconds
frequently seen. As I write this we have perfectly clear skies...the low has
moved off the coast, and we should have good skies for my session tonight.
Below is my summary:


*****************************
NAMN Visual Observing Report:
*****************************

Mark Davis (DAVMA)
November 16/17, 1998  Begin: 0453 UT  End: 0830 UT  Teff=2.50 hours


(1)Awendaw, SC, USA 79.36' 48" W,  33.02' 15" N, h = 6m,  IMO Code: 25158
(2)Sullivan's Island, SC, USA 79.51' 20"W, 32.45' 30" N, h = 1.5m

Observed Showers:
LEO:  152 +22;  Diam = 5 degrees

Period    Field   Teff  F    LM  LEO  SPO
0453-0605 115 +05 1.20 1.00 5.71 C:12 C:14
0653-0753 115 +05 1.00 1.00 5.26 C:57 C:13
0806-0830 115 +05 0.30 1.00 5.30 C:16 C:2

Magnitude Distributions: (m)n
LEO: (-7)1; (-6)2; (-5)2; (-4)2; (-3)5; (-2)8; (-1)9; (0)13; (+1)18; (+2)13;
     (+3)12; (+4)0; (+5)0; (+6)0

SPO: (-3)1; (-2)0; (-1)1; (0)2: (+1)4; (+2)6; (+3)9; (+4)5; (+5)1; (+6)0

Mean Magnitudes:  LEO = + 0.04   SPO = +2.21