From: Ilan Manulis, Israel
Head of the Small Solar System Bodies Section, The Israeli Astronomical Association
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 12:42:11 +0200



Following is a preliminary report of the Leonids meteor shower for the
night of November 17-18, 1999 from Israel.

Observing location:

Mitzpe-Ramon, Israel

Observing time:

22:30UT November 17 - 03:30UT November 18

Weather Conditions:

Near perfect weather. Very few thin Cirrus clouds. Dry
and calm. Temperature ~15 degrees Celsius. Limiting Magnitude ~5.5.

Observers:

 4 separate groups, counting in total 30 observers.

Results:

 Amazing display. Peak at about 01:54UT, with the radiant
 almost overhead. An estimated rate of ~70 meteors per minute, i.e. >4,000 meteors
per hour, maybe closer to 5,000 meteors per hour. Persistant duration of
this rate for ~34 minutes! Most meteors in the magnitude range of 1 to 5,
with a few fireballs leaving trails for up to 20 seconds.

Impression:

The best meteor shower witnessed by many. Only last year s'
unexpected Leonids fireball show on the night of November 16-17, 1998
outperformed this year's show, but only from the aspect of bright meteors
count, not total number count.





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From: Asaf Shtull-Trauring, Mizpeh Ramon, Israel 
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 04:17:20 -0800 (PST)


No words can desrcibe the greatness of the Leonids
show from Israel, Mizpeh Ramon.

We and 5 other friends, arrived at 5:00 PM Wedmesday,
in a small hill in the Middle of the Machtesh Crater,
near Mitzpeh Ramon, the Ramon-Wise Observatory. We set
up our things, enjoyed nature and company, and started
observing at 11:00 PM. We were ALL alone (six
14-year-olds in the middle of nowhere).

We saw here and there a few nice meteors, usually very
long and yellow. My friends were really exicted Until
12:00 PM, the action grew bigger, as more and more
meteors showed. Then we saw a couple of cars come near
to our observing site. we welcomed the people with a
good morning, and continued our Obseravtions. Until
1:20 AM, there were so many people there, and the
action was really great. we saw about 70 meteors
per-hours, and my friends were still shouting in
surprise everytime they saw a meteor. Again, most
meteors were long and yellow. At 3:00 PM, the action
was DAMN high. We saw sometimes meteors showing
together, and we were so excited. We had the time to
Meet an Amateur Astronomer from Buffalo, who came to
Israel just for the Leonids. At 3:40 Pm, while my
friends were asleep, I started seeing a $%^ng storm.
There were sdo many meteors! I woke up my friends, and
at 4:30 PM, we wer observing an incredible Storm of 4
meteors per second in many occasions, and sometimes
even 10 (2 or 3 times such a thing happened). The
average of the peak was about 2-3 meteors per second
(a one-person's view).

Fireballs- I saw only 2. Both near the horizon. After
4:40, most meteors were VERY bright, sometimes even
Fireballs. We didn't see many long-yellow ones
anymore. There were so many meteors, we were just
overwhelmed. We even sang with another group of people
some Israeli songs!!!

Some phenomenon I don't understand. Sometimes my
friends ad I saw not very bright objects slowly
falling down the sky. Could it be fireball-remaints?
we saw about 5 of such objects, and they always
traveled very slowly downwars, 90 degrees to the
horzion. Anyone?