From: John Onvran, Scarborough 
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 18:33:50 EST


We were looking forward to a meteor count here in Scarborough---- and had
sunloungers, hot water bottles, even hip flasks of Sloe Gin ------- all to no
avail  (except the latter as a means to drown our sorrows! ). After spending
a couple of hours under a totally cloud filled ( that high thick stuff ) sky,
I decided to call the count off.

However, ever the eternal optomist ( well you have to be, in a country where
60% of all nights are cloudy ), when I got home, I kept going out, on and
off, between snow/sleet/hail showers during the time of expected maximum and
was able to see many of the bright events ( i.e mag +2 upwards), half of
which left trails persisting for a couple of seconds or so.  In all I saw
some 60 Leonids and estimated the ZHR for mag+2 and upwards meteors as being
~120 around the time of maximum ( although it seems likely that it was
somewhat more than that ! )  The high cirrus clouds, the lower snow clouds
and the surrounding houses plus light pollution here near the town centre
conspired to prevent me from seeing the larger number of faint events which
pushed this year's Leonid Shower into the "Storm" (albeit minor) league. At
least I saw some.

We're going to try again ----overnight Dec.13/14, to do a count for the
annual Geminid shower and you are more than welcome to join us if you can
make it to the eastern side of the North York Moors National Park ( blizzard
conditions permitting !!! )

This invitation applies also to any other keen meteor observers who can get
to the above area of the planet. ------E-mail, if interested.