rom: Pierre Martin, Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 11:54:08 -0500


I just got back home, and here's a first quick overview of Leonids
peak night (Nov 17/18) over Ottawa, Ontario...

WHAT A NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing as it may sound, the sky was completely clear near Ottawa
(Ontaro). I took a chance last evening and drove 80 km south-west of
Ottawa to Mike Wirth's observatory near the town of Perth. To me
disbelief, it was 100% clear with very transparent magn 5.9 skies.
Ok, I would have been happy with only an hour, but getting crisp
clear skies until dawn was something I never expected. All the low
clouds seemed to be stuck right over Ottawa, so I got lucky. It's too
bad many local observers missed this night as the forecasts did not
predict such an improvement in the weather!

The Leonids put on a spectacular display, with a very sharp peak near
7:45 UT. Maximum rates almost near storm level despite the bright
Moon. ZHR probably several hundreds per hour and maybe near 1000/hr
for brief periods of time. Many simultaneous meteors coming from all
directions!! Lots of faint stuff, but a number of bright meteors. Few
fireballs.

As for the earlier 3:44 UT peak, I did see many impressive colourful
earthgrazers shooting accross long lenghts in the sky...
impressive!!! Leonid numbers appeared high despite a very low radiant.

I'm working on an express report to send very soon to the IMO.

Hope many others saw this fabulous meteor display!
---
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 16:17:40 -0500

Here's my hourly data summary for the fantastic night of Leonids. I
shudder to think how many more would have been visible under darker
New Moon conditions!

DATE: November 17/18 2000
BEGIN: 3:57 UT (22:57 EST)  END: 10:30 UT (5:30 EST)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76.307 West; Lat: 44.820 North  Elevation:100m
City & Province: Perth, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS: 3-letter code;                        radiant position
                LEO (Leonids)                           153 +21
                AMO (Alpha Monocerotids)                117 -6
                NTA (north Taurids)                     067 +24
                STA (south Taurids)                     064 +16
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen;  / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)  FIELD      Teff  F     LM   SPO  LEO NTA STA AMO
3:57-5:00   03h54 +31  1.05  1.03  5.63   3    9   1   1   0
5:32-6:32   04h56 +13  1.00  1.00  5.98   5   39   0   0   1
6:32-7:36   04h25 +22  1.00  "     5.98  10  159   2   1   1
7:36-8:39   05h32 +18  1.00  "     5.98   3  136   3   0   0
8:39-9:39   05h49 +24  1.00  "     5.93   5   66   1   2   1
9:39-10:30  07h04 +20  0.85  "     5.85   3   33   1   0   0
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                5.90              29  442   8   4   3 = 486
------------------------------------------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER  -4  -3  -2  -1   0  +1  +2  +3  +4  +5  AVERAGE

SPO      0   0   0   0   1   0   1  12  12   3  +3.48
LEO      1   4   5  19  34  26  92 124 109  28  +2.52
NTA      0   0   0   1   0   1   1   3   2   0  +2.38
STA      0   0   0   1   0   0   1   0   2   0  +2.25
AMO      0   0   0   0   0   0   1   1   1   0  +3.0
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS:  1   4   5  21  35  27  96 140 126  31
----------------------------------------------

SKY OBSCURED:
10% from 3:57 to 4:15 UT
------------------------

Dead time: 7 min
Breaks: 5:00-5:32, 6:45-6:49, 7:38-7:41