From: Jin Zhu, Xinglong Observatory, Beijing, China 
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 00:54:26 +0800 (CST)


The second peak of 1999 Leonids

In Nov. 16, I made a phone call to Mr. Ming Li, and he told me that
according to Peter Jenniskens' calculation, there would be a second
peak occured in Nov. 19 morning and China would be right place for
look. I was on leaving for the Leonids at that time and I could not
figured out the details from Peter's web site in such a short time.
So I suppose that it meant there could be a smaller peak near the
4:00 am Beijing time of Nov. 19 and passed the message to several
experienced observers and asked them to keep another night for
more meteors. I myself came across some accidental stuff which made
me not be able to observe for 18/19 night as I planed before.

The observations for 18/19 night by several Chinese amatuers confirmed
the second peak, and this time there were many bright fireballs. They
will send their report after they compile it, and I post here one of
their quick data as the express form for your first impression. They
saw about 4 or 5 times more meteors than the night before... And they
are exciting for watching a -3/-4 fireball travelling and turning into
a -12 one (looked even larger than the Moon and its flash made the eye
uncomfortable), with train lasting for more than 20 minutes.

It is reported that peaks occured both around 18:30 UT and 20:00 UT,
Nov. 18.

Reports from southern part of China showed less activity than the one
in Beijing but also showed more activity than previous night.

With best regards, Jin


1999 Leonids EXPRESS REPORT

Date: 1999 Nov. 18/19
Observer: Rui Qi
Site: Yanqing, CHINA (40N 115E)
Sky obscured: 5%

Time Interval (UT)    Lim. Magn.    Nr. of Leonids     Remarks (if any)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
17:37-17:45             5.6              8
17:45-18:00             5.6             18
18:00-18:15             5.6             14
18:15-18:30             5.6             22
18:30-18:42             5.6             18             break 18:42-18:45
18:45-19:00             5.6             22
19:00-19:15             5.6             16
19:15-19:30             5.6             13
19:30-19:45             5.6             19
19:45-20:00             5.6             20
20:00-20:15             5.6             31
20:15-20:30             5.6             20
20:30-20:45             5.6             27
20:45-21:00             5.6             24
21:00-21:15             5.6             13
21:15-21:30             5.6             22
21:30-21:45             5.6             23
21:45-21:53             5.6             10

Remarks: Many bright fireballs, including one -12 !!
         Detail report will be sent directly from observer at some later time.