From: Marc Gyssens, International Meteor Organization 
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 04:37:46 +0100




I N T E R N A T I O N A L   M E T E O R   O R G A N I Z A T I O N

                           Press release

Leonid meteor storm materializes around expected peak time
==========================================================

Experienced observers watching near Malaga, Spain, reported a peak
in Leonid activity around 2 am Greenwich Mean Time. They estimated the
activity at 20 to 30 meteors per minute. Among these were a lot of
faint meteors and almost no fireballs.

Observers near the Gorges du Verdon in the French Provence and on
Tenerife, Canary Islands, reported similar numbers around or shortly
after 2 am Greenwich Mean Time. They too were struck by the abundance
of faint meteor and the relative absence of fireballs.

Meteor astronomers reduce the actual numbers of meteors seen to a
standard value, called the Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR), which takes
into account the quality of the sky as well as the direction from
which meteoroids enter the atmosphere. The activity reported from
Malaga, Spain, corresponds with a ZHR in the range 3000-4000, which is
more than what most meteor observers had hoped for (around 1000).

More information will be released as it becomes available.