DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi to all!
The Leonids 2000 have started very succesfully in the Netherlands! A cold front passed the country in the night of 16/17 november. At about 22 UT the sky cleared in the western part of the country. At about 0 UT the sky cleared in the middle part of the country. Finally at the end of the night the frontal zone passed the eastern part of the country. Sky conditions in the clean and dry air after the front proved to be extremely well! Many thanks go the meteorologist Jacob Kuiper who guided us to the best observing locations available!
Members of the Dutch Meteor Society do not have observed any significant enhanced Leonid activity so far duri ng 16/17 november 2000. Observers include Arnold Tukkers, Rita Verhoef, Ben Kokkeler, Jacob Kuiper and Casper ter Kuile at De Bilt and Jos Nijland, Robert Haas, Sietse Dijkstra, Dianna Dijkstra and Remco Scheepmaker at Chaam. This observing period is from about 0 UT till about 4h30m UT. Sky conditions are excellent after the passage of a cold front.
Some minutes before 6 UT members of the Dutch Meteor Society observed 2 big Leonid fireballs one of -8 the other of -10. Nautical twilight started at 5h45m. Team Jos Nijland, Robert Haas, Sietse Dijkstra, Dianna Dijkstra, Remco Scheepmaker observed the two fireballs while still at their observing location near the Dutch / Belgian border. Jacob Kuiper and Casper ter Kuile observed these fireballs while already at Jacobs home through the window.
Clear Skies!
Casper.by Ton Schoenmaker, Roden
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Observer: Ton Schoenmaker
Location: Roden, Netherlands (06 26' E, 53 08' N)
Frequency: 55.275 MHz
Transmitter: Spanish TV channel E3 (video); transmitters in La Muela (30 kW),
Gamoniteiro (50 kW) and Aitana (60 kW); all stations within
100 Hz of nominal frequency; distance ~1500 km
Antenna: 3-elements horizontal Cushcraft 50 MHz Yagi tuned to 55.3 MHz;
geographical azimuth 210 degrees (SW)
Receiver: Yupiteru MVT-9000 in USB mode; sensitivity 0.5 uV at 12 dB S/N
Observing: 800 Hz audio signal from earphone socket was rectified, digitised
and fed into a PC via the parallel computer port. HP VEE was used
to process the digitised signal and to store 15-minutes counts of
reflections stronger than 0.22 uV (-120 dBm). Also for all
individual meteors date, time, duration (dead time) and maximum
signal are stored.
Due to many long duration reflections caused by fast and bright Leonids, it was not possible to just count the number of reflections. In the figures below the uncorrected hourly dead-time percentages are given instead.
Although the results may be influenced by individual long reflections, the following main peaks were found:
17 November 8h00m UTC +/- 0h30m peak dead-time of 50%
18 November 2h00m UTC +/- 0h15m peak dead-time of 70%
18 November 3h30m UTC +/- 0h15m peak dead-time of 80%
18 November 5h00m UTC +/- 0h15m peak dead-time of 80%
18 November 7h00m UTC +/- 0h15m peak dead-time of 90%
Ton Schoenmaker, Dutch Meteor Society and IMO
Meester Homanstraat 8, NL 9301 HP Roden, Netherlands
E-mail: schoenmaker@NFRA.nl
Call: PA0EFA
Uncorrected reflection percentages for 15-minute periods of Leonids. Full scale means signal stronger than -120 dBm during the whole period.
Details of uncorrected reflection percentages for 15-minute periods of Leonids on 17 and 18 November. Full scale means signal stronger than -120 dBm during the whole period.
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi All,
For the first time in six months a note from the Carribean. But when you
are at the perfect location to observe the possible activity of the
2-rev trail at 7h53 UT (Nov 17) and the 4-rev at 7h51 UT (Nov 18), I
ain't gonna miss it!
I've tried to start this year's Leonid observations at the 16th. But
this night was clouded. Of course, it did start to get clear at dawn.
That's Murphy for you.
Last night I had more succes. At the beginning of the night it looked very promissing, but later that night some clouds drifted in. Observations were three times interupted by clouds and even rain, of course also from 7h40 untill 7h53 UT. That's Murphy again, to have rain at the predicted time of possible maximum activity of the 2-rev trail at 7h53 UT.
I started my observations at 6h00 UT. The moon wasn't that much of a nuisance, because I looked in the northwestern direction. The limiting magnitude hovered all night around 6.0. The clouds were a nuisance, as you can see at the tabulated values of F.
In the beginning the Leonid activity was very low, and it remained low for over an hour. Then I had to interupt my observations for the first time because of rain. After I resumed my observations at 7h25 UT, the activity of the Leonids had increased considerably. As the predicted time of possible maximum activity of the 2-rev trail was approaching, I was hoping the activity would steeply increase to a minor storm level. This didn't happen. After 8h00 UT the activity stayed high, but slowly I grew tired. I had the impression the activity dropped again after 8h45 UT. I am not sure, because I started falling asleep. That's why I omited the unreliable observations which I made after 8h45 UT in this report. Noteworthy was the lack of real bright Leonids. Not one of the Leonids I observed could even reach the brightness of Jupiter. The two Taurids were beautiful, as always. They were majestically soaring through the sky with a bright head and a faint tail.
Now I will start the preparations for another observation run. Coming night I hope to see some activity of the 4-rev trail. I keep my fingers crossed.
Cheers
Erwin
Name: Erwin van Ballegoij (IMO-code: VANER)
Date: November 17 2000
Site: Wela, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean, 69d 58' W, 12d 29' N
Viewing direction: northwest
Viewing height: 70d
period (UT) Teff Lm F LEO NTA STA MON SPO total
06h00-06h15 0.20 5.94 1.11 2 0 1 0 1 4
06h15-06h30 0.23 5.86 1.25 0 0 0 1 0 1
06h30-06h45 0.25 5.86 1.14 2 0 0 0 0 2
06h45-07h00 0.22 5.86 1.25 1 0 0 0 1 2
07h00-07h15 0.18 6.01 1.43 3 0 0 0 1 4
07h15-07h30 0.08 6.09 1.00 1 0 0 0 0 1
07h30-07h45 0.13 6.04 1.00 5 1 0 0 1 7
07h45-08h00 0.12 5.93 1.23 4 0 0 0 0 4
08h00-08h15 0.22 5.76 1.21 5 0 0 1 2 8
08h15-08h30 0.18 5.75 1.00 7 0 0 0 0 7
08h30-08h45 0.17 5.81 1.52 7 0 0 0 0 7
total 37 1 1 2 6 47
Magnitude Distribution
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 m (average)
LEO 3 5 7 13 6 3 0 2.62
NTA 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3.00
STA 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2.00
MON 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 3.50
SPO 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 4.33
Erwin van Ballegoij
Tarabanaweg 9
Oranjestad - Aruba
tel: 00 297 821918
e-mail: ballegoy@setarnet.aw
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi to all!
Oh what a night!! It's hard to express our feelings in words. It soon became clear (..) to us the weather turned out to be unfavourable in the Netherlands. Very cloudy weather with showers and some small spots in between. Almost impossible to carry out multistation photo- and video-observations. For this kind of observations one needs large, > 200 km wide, non-obscured clear skies. That seemed to be far from reality. Having this kind of nearly unpredictable weather we put all efforts in observing the 03:44 UT peak. We (Jacob Kuiper, Jos Nijland, Robert Haas and I accompanied with five observers of the "Stichting J.C. van der Meulen") decided to wait until the very latest moment.
So we started our Leonid chase from location De Bilt at 02:00 UT and first went, together with Jacob Kuiper) to the Royal National Weather Service (KNMI), which is very nearby, to have the very latest weatherinformation which should guide us to the correct location. The weathersituation still proved to be very tricky and hard to forecast. Jacob adviced us to head for the German border near Oberhausen / Venlo. At around 4 UT we stopped our chase for the Leonids in the middle of the province of Limburg along the German border. In some small holes in de cloudcover we noticed nothing extraordinary.
Driving back home we were very lucky to meet a much larger hole in de cloudcover after a heavy rainshower. We immediately stopped at a parking place halfway Limburg and the city of Eindhoven. While we get out of the car we observed two bright Leonids! We walking behing a wall which marked the parking place and from that location we observed many bright Leonids although twilight already had started! There was undoubtedly strong enhanced activity of the Leonids. Alas: because of the many, many clouds we were not able to carry out any usefull observations, visual, photo or video.
Precise data will be supplied by our DMS members who observed the Leonids from Portugal and Spain. Carl Johannink, Koen Miskotte and Marco Langbroek observed from Almodovar in Portugal. Klaas Jobse, Jaap van 't Leven and Peter Bus observed the Leonids from Faro in Portugal. And Hans Betlem and team observed the Leonids from a mobile locations somewhere in Spain.
In the meantime the DMS-website at "http://www.dmsweb.org" has been fully updated and now contains the very latest observing data from many DMS-members.
Best wishes,
Casper.
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Last night I tried to observe the Leonids. Unfortunately most of the night I
was clouded out (with some rain). Only from 2h till 4h30m UT some small
clearings appeared in the sky.
From 3h50m till 4h20m I could do some usefull observations with a limiting
magnitude of around 5,0.
During this period 36 Leonids (and 3 sporadics) were observed.
The preliminary results are presented in attached Excel-file. The calculated
ZHR was 439 ± 73.
Observer: Alex Scholten (ASE)
Horsterdijk 6a , 6961 KP EERBEEK , (0313) 651864
Location: 01h35m - 03h07m UT : Voorthuizen (Brugveenseweg) ( 52,2 NB / 05,6 OL)
03h35m - 03h50m UT : Oosterhuizen (Veendijk) ( 52,2 NB / 06,0 OL)
Date: 16/17 november 2000
Period (UT) Teff Lm Spo Leo N Direction Remarks
01.35 - 01.40 5 5,0 1 1 W/NW +3 at edge of fov
01.40 - 01.45 5 5,0 0 W/NW
01.45 - 01.50 5 5,0 0 W/NW
01.50 - 01.55 5 5,0 1 1 W/NW +4
01.55 - 02.00 5 5,0 2 2 W/NW +1 , +2 (pers. train)
02.05 - 02.10 2 5,0 1 1 W/NW -1 (pers. train)
02.07 - 02.18 break
02.15 - 02.20 2 4,8 1 1 N -1 (pers. train)
02.20 - 02.25 5 4,8 0 N
02.25 - 02.30 5 4,8 0 N
02.30 - 02.35 5 4,8 0 N
02.35 - 02.40 5 5,0 0 N
02.40 - 02.45 5 5,0 0 N
02.45 - 02.50 5 5,0 0 N
02.50 - 02.55 5 5,0 0 N
02.55 - 03.00 5 5,0 0 N
03.00 - 03.05 5 5,0 0 N
03.05 - 03.10 2 5,0 0 N
03.07 - 03.35 break
03.35 - 03.40 5 5,0 1 1 N +2
03.40 - 03.45 5 5,0 0 N
03.45 - 03.50 5 5,0 0 N
03.50 - 03.55 5 5,0 0 N
stop at 03.55
total 2,75 UT 96 5,0 2 5 7
Stream -1 0 1 2 3 4 N N~ %~
Leonids 2 0 1 1 1 0 5 2 40%
Sporadics 1 0 1 2 0 0%
Alex Scholten
Dutch Meteor Society,
Netherlands
Alex Scholten
Horsterdijk 6a
NL-6961 KP EERBEEK
tel.: (0313) 651864
e-mail: ascholten@wxs.nl
P.s: during the night 16/17 november I could preform some observations
during 1,5 hour from 1h35m till 3h07m and 3h35m till 3h50m UT, with a
limiting magnitude of around 5,0.
During these periode I could see only 5 Leonids (and 2 sporadics).
Therefore I can conclude that the Leonid-activity was much higher during the
night 17/18 november than during the previous night.
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi to all!
DMS teammembers Klaas Jobse, Jaap van 't Leven and Peter Bus observing the Leonids 2000 from Faro - Algarve - Portugal report:
A very first preliminary ZHR (november 17/18):
UT ZHR +/- 02:00 - 02:30 240 50 02:30 - 03:00 335 50 03:00 - 03:30 410 75 03:30 - 04:00 360 45 04:00 - 04:30 200 30 04:30 - 05:00 210 30 05:00 - 05:30 230 60 05:30 - 06:00 270 30
Mv = 6.0 r = 2.7
These are combined results of Jaap, Klaas and Peter.
Best wishes,
Klaas Jobse
Peter Bus
Jaap van 't Leven
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi all,
Here another report from the Carribean. It ain't easy to observe one night, go to work the next day and going to observe the next night again. I planned to go to bed early, rise at 00h30 local time (04h30 UT) and to start observing from 01h30 local time. Alas, my body decided otherwise. I didn't hear the alarmclock and I woke with a start at 02h45 local time. Swiftly I packed my gear in the car, looked at the sky for two minutes, saw no meteors and concluded the show hadn't started yet.
The scene had completely changed when I arrived at the Wela hill. When I was installing my equipment, I saw already 6 Leonids. So I started observing at once. At 3h20 local time (7h20 UT) I started observing. And the activity was on the rise! But maximal activity was a bit early. From 7h30 untill 7h35 I counted 15 Leonids. And the clouds were really bugging me at that time (see the F-value for that time). Was this the activity of the 4-rev. trail a bit earlier than expected, or was this another trail? Later the activity dropped, but there were still many Leonids to be seen. At first I saw mostly faint Leonids, later that night the average magnitude increased. At the end a lot of clouds moved in. I waited a while. Through small holes in the clouds I saw three other Leonids, but the clouds didn't disappear. Even worse, it started to rain. Then I quit, because it was only a quarter of an hour untill dawn at 6h local time (10h UT).
I have another go tonight. If I'm succesfull, you will see the results tomorrow.
Cheers,
Erwin
Name: Erwin van Ballegoij (IMO-code: VANER)
Date: November 18 2000
Site: Wela, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean, 69d 58' W, 12d 29' N
Viewing direction: southwest
Viewing height: 70d
period (UT) Teff Lm F LEO NTA STA MON SPO total
07h20-07h25 0.083 5.91 1.00 6 0 0 1 0 7
07h25-07h30 0.083 5.91 1.67 8 0 0 0 0 8
07h30-07h35 0.083 6.05 2.00 15 0 0 0 0 15
07h35-07h40 0.083 6.10 1.36 9 1 0 0 0 10
07h40-07h45 0.083 5.84 1.20 11 0 0 0 1 12
07h45-07h50 0.083 5.84 1.30 7 0 0 0 0 7
07h50-07h55 0.083 5.84 2.00 8 0 0 0 0 8
07h55-08h00 0.083 5.85 1.67 4 0 0 0 0 4
08h00-08h05 0.083 5.95 1.00 10 1 0 0 1 12
08h05-08h10 0.083 6.10 1.00 8 0 0 0 0 8
08h10-08h15 0.083 6.10 1.07 7 0 0 0 1 8
08h15-08h20 0.083 6.10 1.50 6 0 0 0 1 7
08h20-08h25 0.083 5.94 1.25 6 0 0 0 2 8
08h25-08h30 0.083 5.84 1.00 4 0 0 0 0 4
08h30-08h35 0.083 5.84 1.00 3 0 0 1 2 6
08h35-08h40 0.083 5.84 1.03 3 0 0 0 1 4
08h40-08h45 0.083 5.84 1.20 6 0 0 0 0 6
08h45-08h50 0.083 5.84 1.20 4 0 0 0 0 4
08h50-08h55 0.083 5.84 1.20 2 0 0 0 0 2
08h55-09h00 0.083 5.82 1.20 7 0 0 0 0 7
09h00-09h05 0.083 5.73 1.20 5 0 0 0 3 8
09h05-09h09 0.067 5.73 1.30 3 0 0 0 0 3
total 142 2 0 2 12 158
Magnitude Distribution
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 m (average)
LEO 1 5 8 18 17 37 33 18 5 0 1.87
NTA 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.50
MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.50
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 4 3 0 3.75
Erwin van Ballegoij
Tarabanaweg 9
Oranjestad - Aruba
tel: 00 297 821918
e-mail: ballegoy@setarnet.aw
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Please find my visual counts of the night 16/17 November 2000.
Location: Stompwijk, The Netherlands (NB 52 07', EL 4 30')
Period Mean Teff F Lm Leo Spo 3:15-3:37 3:26 0.33 1.00 5.4 2 2 4:20-4:43 4:32 0.38 1.00 5.4 5 1 5:18-5:47 5:34 0.43 1.00 5.4 5 2 Cloud percentages were put in Teff, defining F=1.00. Magnitude distributions: Leo 1 (-10), 2 (0), 3 (1), 2(2), 2 (3), 2(4) Spo 2 (2), 2 (3), 1(4) Marc de Lignie Tel. +31 (70) 320 5673 Prins Hendrikplein 42 Fax. +31 (70) 332 6477 NL-2264 SN Leidschendam E-mail: m.c.delignie@wxs.nl The Netherlands http://home.wxs.nl/~m.c.delignie/personalia/
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Please find my visual counts of the night 17/18 November 2000.
Observations were made with lots of obstruction of clouds and surrounding buildings, so this may be a reason for the lack of bright Leonids (apart from it being a real effect).
Location: Leidschendam, The Netherlands (NB 52 07', EL 4 30')
Period Mean Teff F Lm Leo Spo 3:39-3:46 3:43 0.12 0.7 5.5 7 0 4:03-4:12 4:08 0.15 0.5 5.5 2 1 4:12-4:21 4:17 0.15 0.7 5.5 6 0 4:21-4:36 4:29 0.25 0.9 5.5 5 0 4:42-4:51 4:47 0.15 0.8 5.5 6 0 4:51-5:01 4:56 0.17 0.8 5.5 4 1 5:03-5:14 5:09 0.18 0.8 5.5 6 0 5:14-5:21 5:18 0.12 0.9 5.5 6 0 5:21-5:24 5:22 0.05 0.7 5.5 3 0 5:29-5:36 5:33 0.12 0.8 5.5 7 1 Teff is *not* corrected for cloud coverage (1-F). Leonid magnitude distributions: 3:39-3:46 0(0), 1(0), 2(2), 3(4), 4(1) 4:03-4:12 0(0), 1(1), 2(0), 3(1), 4(0) 4:12-4:21 -5(1), -2(1), 0(0), 1(1), 2(0), 3(2), 4(1) 4:21-4:36 0(0), 1(1), 2(2), 3(1), 4(1) 4:42-4:51 0(0), 1(1), 2(2), 3(1), 4(2) 4:51-5:01 0(0), 1(0), 2(2), 3(1), 4(1) 5:03-5:14 0(0), 1(0), 2(1), 3(2), 4(3) 5:14-5:21 0(0), 1(0), 2(2), 3(2), 4(2) 5:21-5:24 0(0), 1(1), 2(0), 3(2), 4(0) 5:29-5:36 0(0), 1(0), 2(1), 3(3), 4(3) Spo 0(1), 1(0), 2(0), 3(1), 4(1) Marc de Lignie Tel. +31 (70) 320 5673 Prins Hendrikplein 42 Fax. +31 (70) 332 6477 NL-2264 SN Leidschendam E-mail: m.c.delignie@wxs.nl The Netherlands http://home.wxs.nl/~m.c.delignie/personalia/
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Hi all,
This time no problems to wake up on time. I heard the alarmclock at 3 o'clock local time and I went to the Wela hill. The sky was great, considering the presence of the moon. The activity of the Leonids was low. Unfortunately, clouds drifted in after just 20 minutes, followed by a short and heavy rainstorm. After the rainstorm I waited for an hour. As the clouds were moving slowly and there was no indication the clouds were going to disappear, I decided to quit one hour before sunrise. So only a minor report from me today.
Cheers,
Erwin
Name: Erwin van Ballegoij (IMO-code: VANER)
Date: November 19 2000
Site: Wela, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean, 69d 58' W, 12d 29' N
Viewing direction: southwest
Viewing height: 70d
period (UT) Teff Lm F LEO NTA STA MON SPO total
07h40-08h01 0.35 6.29 1.04 3 0 0 1 2 6
Magnitude Distribution
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 m (average)
LEO 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 3.33
MON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.00
SPO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.50
Erwin van Ballegoij
Tarabanaweg 9
Oranjestad - Aruba
tel: 00 297 821918
e-mail: ballegoy@setarnet.aw
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Name: Jos Nijland
Date: 16/17 november 2000
Site: Chaam (south of Breda), the Netherlands, 4g54m37s E , 51g29m12s N
Period (UT) Teff Lm Leo Tau Spo Ntot
00.45-01.15 0,50 5,70 5 0 4 9
01.15-01.45 0,47 5,60 4 1 5 10
01.45-02.15 0,50 5,60 7 0 6 13
02.15-02.45 0,50 5,50 7 0 2 9
02.45-03.15 0,50 5,40 4 2 3 9
04.42-05.15 0,40 5,40 7 0 3 10
05.15-05.45 0,47 4,80 7 0 4 11
Total 3,34 5,45 41 3 27 71
Magnitude Distribution
Flash -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ntot
Leo 1 0 2 2 5 5 10 10 6 0 0 41
Tau 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 3
Spo 0 1 0 0 1 5 10 10 0 0 27
List of bright meteors which could have been photographed:
Time (UT) Mv Str. Location
± 00.59.45 0 Leo North
01.00.12 -2 Leo Cep
01.31.35 0 Leo Ori
01.50.35 0 Leo± Ori
01.52.50 0 Leo Uma
± 02.03.45 0 Leo Umi
02.06.40 -1 Leo Umi
02.11.00 -2 Spo NNW
02.19.32 -2 Leo Cas
02.43.25 0 Leo Uma
02.56.55 1 Leo Ori-Tau
04.47.05 -1 Leo Cas
04.58.30 0 Leo Uma
05.12.30 ? ? Flash
05.17.28 0 Leo Uma
05.25.20 0 Leo Uma
05.45.10 -4 Leo East
± 05.56.00 -8 Leo? NNW
± 06.04.00 -10 Leo? NNW
Best wishes,
Jos Nijland
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Results of Arnold Tukkers, member of the Dutch Meteor Society.
Place : de Bilt (in the middle of the Netherlands near Utrecht).
Teammembers: Casper ter Kuile, Rita Verhoef, Ben Kokkeler,
Jacob Kuiper and Arnold Tukkers.
Time : 0.45 - 5.15 UT
T-effective: 4.30 h
Lm : 5.2 later drop down to 4.8.
All the teammembers saw a higher activity round 04.30 - 05.15. There was one bright meteor about 01.00, low in the east. I thought it was a bright laserlight. Casper en Jacob saw a bright Taurid meteor (great).
Period. [UT] T.eff Lm Leo Tau Spo 00.45 - 01.00 0.25 5.2 1 4 01.00 - 01.15 0.25 5.2 1 2 3 01.15 - 01.30 0.25 5.2 1 01.30 - 01.45 0 0 01.45 - 02.00 0 0 02.00 - 02.15 0.25 5.2 2 1 1 02.15 - 02.30 0.25 5.2 2 02.30 - 02.45 0.25 4.6 1 1 02.45 - 03.00 0.25 4.6 1 03.00 - 03.15 0.25 4.6 03.15 - 03.30 0.25 4.6 1 2 03.30 - 03.45 0.25 4.6 2 03.45 - 04.00 0.25 4.6 1 04.00 - 04.15 0.25 4.8 2 04.15 - 04.30 0.25 4.8 1 1 04.30 - 04.45 0.25 4.8 6 2 04.45 - 05.00 0.25 4.8 5 1 05.00 - 05.15 0.25 4.8 3 1 Magnitude Distribution Stream -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 LEO 1 1 3 4 4 2 6 4 0 TAU 1 1 3 SPOR 1 1 2 10 7 3
Arnold Tukkers
DMS-members Marco Langbroek, Carl Johannink, Koen Miskotte observing the Leonids 2000
Hi,
Below a table with my Leonid data from the night of November 16-17, obtained
while observing under excellent conditions from Almodôvar in southern
Portugal. In total, 2.52h effective yielded 65 Leonids. Rates were already
slightly enhanced, (average ZHR ~25), especially during the last part of the
session, with rates slightly rising from ~1.5 to ~2 times the normal annual
values. My magnitude estimates yield an r-value of 3.0 for this period
(compare to 2.5 the next night).
We focussed on the last hours of the night because we first took some
sleep -on Wednesday 15 November we decided to book a last-minute flight from
the Netherlands to Portugal for November 16, so we spent the larger part of
the day of the 16th travelling by aircraft and then by car.
- Marco Langbroek (DMS)
Obs.: Marco Langbroek (LANMA) Loc.: Almodôvar, Portugal, 37d 31' N, 8d 00' W Date: November 16-17, 2000 UT Teff Lm Leo Tau Spo 3:40-4:02 0.37 6.4 5 2 4 4:02-4:32 0.50 6.4 15 0 6 4:32-5:02 0.50 6.4 8 2 6 5:02-5:32 0.50 6.4 12 0 8 5:32-6:11 0.65 6.4 25 0 6 TOTAL 2.52 65 4 30 99 strm/mag -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 Leonids 3 2 3 12 16 25 4 <2.95> Sporadics 0 1 0 3 12 12 2 <3.33> Taurids 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 <2.00> UTC ZHR ± 03:51 17 7 04:17 33 9 04:47 16 6 05:17 22 6 05:52 34 7
--- Marco Langbroek private: marcolan@stad.dsl.nl Leiden University work: m.langbroek@arch.leidenuniv.nl Faculty of Archaeology website: http://homes.dsl.nl/~marcolan P.O. Box 9515 NL-2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands
DMS-members Marco Langbroek, Carl Johannink, Koen Miskotte observing the Leonids 2000
Hi,
A quick note: we (Koen Miskotte, Carl Johannink and me) just returned from a last-minute campaign to southern Portugal (we decided to book a last minute flight for Nov.16-19 on the afternoon of November 15 because of very bad weather in the Netherlands).
Observing at Almodôvar (~75 km north of Faro) we witnessed an impressive show on November 17-18. I do not have real data available yet (hope to supply those in due time...), but we observed from ~1:30 UT to ~6 UT and continuously had rates well into the multiple meteors per minute (from 2-3 up to 7-8/minute), even when the radiant still was quite low in the sky, with Lm's at around +6.3 for me personally (notwithstanding moonlight!!) and very clear sky. Our field impression, and this seems to be backed by a look at some very preliminary raw data from one of us (JOHCA), is that there were TWO distinct peaks this night, one close to 2UT and a second near 3:30 UT. Please note: this is only an impression from the field and I am not (yet) possible to substantiate it with data.
Many bright meteors this night including several sub-zero events, and 3 major fireballs (a -6 and two -8's) with long persistent trains (one up to 10 minutes). In the list of my Leonid experiences from 1995 onwards this night ranks 3th best in impressiveness, after the 1999 storm and 1998 fireball component.
The nigh before, 16-17, we observed from ~2:30 to ~6 UT. Although modest, rates were definitely ENHANCED during the last 3 hours and at least twice as high as normal annual Leonid activity. To me, it was quite similar to the 1995 enhancement in outlook.
Below a table with my data from the night of November 17-18. We had very good conditions in Portugal, I am amazed about the limiting magnitude considering the moonlight! (note the effect of climbing moon). The 'tric' we did was that we used a low wall surrounding the little chapel to block the moon from vision during most part of the night. The secluded observing site and clear sky conditions did the rest.
My highest one-minute counts were 6-9 Leonids per minute short before 3:30 UTC
There appear to be at least two maxima in the profile; one first between 2:00- 2:15 UTC with ZHR ~240. Then rates decline notably to ~160 near 2:45 UTC. They rise again to a second maximum around 3:30 UTC with ZHR ~270. During the last hour, rates rise again, probably the onset of the peak over the States some 2 hours later. Please note that all quoted rate values are very preliminary.
Data from November 16-17 will follow later.
- Marco Langbroek (DMS)
Observer: Marco Langbroek (LANMA) Location: Almodôvar, Portugal, 37d 31' N, 8d 00' W Date : 17-18 November, 2000 UT Teff Lm Leo Tau Spo 1:29-1:45 0.20 6.6 12 1 3 1:45-2:00 0.25 6.6 22 0 1 2:00-2:15 0.25 6.5 29 2 7 2:15-2:30 0.25 6.5 24 1 2 2:30-2:45 0.23 6.4 29 1 1 2:45-3:00 0.25 6.4 24 1 1 3:00-3:14 0.23 6.4 39 1 0 3:17-3:30 0.22 6.4 46 2 1 3:30-3:44 0.23 6.4 46 0 5 3:45-4:00 0.23 6.4 33 1 4 4:00-4:15 0.20 6.4 31 1 2 4:45-5:00 0.25 6.4 37 0 2 5:00-5:15 0.25 6.2 35 0 2 5:15-5:30 0.25 6.2 39 0 4 5:30-5:45 0.25 5.9 35 0 5 (5:45-5:54 0.15 var 26 0 2) TOTAL 3.69 507 11 42 560 stream -8 -7 // -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 Leo 1 1 6 17 19 44 100 148 121 50 <2.72> Spo 1 4 10 21 6 <3.64> Tau 1 4 5 0 1 <1.73> UTC ZHR ± 01:36 165 47 01:52 202 43 02:07 250 46 02:22 181 37 02:37 231 43 02:52 158 32 03:07 254 41 03:24 287 42 03:37 254 38 03:52 170 30 04:07 173 31 04:52 144 24 05:07 157 26 05:22 170 27 05:37 195 33
--- Marco Langbroek private: marcolan@stad.dsl.nl Leiden University work: m.langbroek@arch.leidenuniv.nl Faculty of Archaeology website: http://homes.dsl.nl/~marcolan P.O. Box 9515 NL-2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands
DMS-members Carl Johannink, Marco Langbroek, Koen Miskotte observing the Leonids 2000
Observer: Johannink , Carl (IMO-code JOHCA)
Location: Almodôvar, Portugal, lat. 37 40' North / lon. 7 55' West
Nov. 16/17 start 03:35 UT / end 06:02 UT ; Teff = 2,45 hours ; centre at alfa 5h ; decl. 60 degrees (04:40 UT)
Nov. 17/18 start 01:17 UT / end 05:54 UT ; Teff = 4,48 hours ; centre at alfa 3h ; decl. 45 degrees (01:35 UT)
15 min. - interval with highest Leo-counts: 03:19 - 03:34 UT (43) (40 or higher in the intervals 03:17 - 03:36 UT)
10 min. - interval with highest Leo-counts: 03:24 - 03:34 UT (29)
5 min. - interval with highest Leo-counts: 03:27 - 03:32 UT (17) (15 or higher in the intervals 03:27 - 03:35 UT)
Public Observatory "Philippus Lansbergen",
Middelburg, The Netherlands
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
Members of our Observatory observed the return of the Leonids from Oostkapelle. The first night, 16/17 november, was a bit disappointing. We had a great deal of fine clear weather, but we only counted 15 meteors: 1 Taurid en 14 Leonids. (and that from 11.45 till 06.00 (UT))
The second night started awfull: many clouds and too much rain.
At about 02.00 we arrived at our location in Oostkapelle. The weather was still
very bad, but we were hoping the best of it.
Within half an hour (02.32.00 - 03.02.00) we observed 17 Leonids between and
through the clouds. That's even more than the whole of the night before!
At 03.11.00 a very bright Leonid, with a long persistent trail, flew through
the sky, right in the Zenith. We knew something was happening up there, but we
couldn't witness it! (What a shame)
From 04.30 the sky became a bit brighter, but our Lm at around 3 - 4 makes clear that the circumstances were still not very good. However, we were very glad that we could see something after all. Between 04.30 and 06.00 we counted 132 Leonids!
In total we observed 183 Leonids during the 17/18 nov. night. Because of the many clouds, our observations will probably be of no use, but for most of us it was a night hard to forget.
Public Observatory "Philippus Lansbergen", Oostkapelle, the Netherlands
Public Observatory "Philippus Lansbergen", Oostkapelle, the Netherlands
Rijk-Jan Koppejan
"Philippus Lansbergen" Public Observatory,
Herengracht 52, 4331 PX Middelburg
Website: http://www.lansbergen.demon.nl
E-mail: philippus@lansbergen.demon.nl
E-mail: rijk-jan@free.zeelandnet.nl
DMS-members observing the Leonids 2000
To have more chance to become good weather. I intended to move to the south of
Spain to observe the Leonid meteor shower. Big Low pressure systems hit Europe at
the entire period. Some frontal systems hit south of Spain at several days.
Strong winds at night blow many clouds" to heaven". But the night of 16/17 November,
a rain zone cross the observation site and cancel out observations from 3h30m U.T.
until daylight . The night of 17/18 nov. was almost clear but filed with strong
winds , sometimes up to 100 km/h!
The action takes place under the code name "winds of the ghosts" after the fact
that local habitans believe those strong winds comes from ghosts, unannounced!
The observations takes place at Salobrena Spain, "Costa Tropical".
Position is approximately: -3°50' +36°45'
Point of view NWN .Alt.= 5-40° .zone W-NE.
Height above sea level: 60 m.
16 nov. Very bright sky. 6 stars in nr 6 Per.( VVS-kaarten) Obs: 04h14m-04h45m Leonids Others None 1 __ 16/17 nov. Clouds 20%. Very bright sky. 6 stars in nr 6- Per. _____ Obs. 16 nov. 23h30m-24h00m U.T. Leonids Others 4(?) 1 (?) ( not sure of all of them) 17 nov.00h00m-00h55m U.T. Leon. Oth. 4 3 In respect to low activity and strong wind, observations were interrupted until 2h45m. Only one Leonid was seen at 03h00m. At 3h30m clouds covered the sky and end of observations ____ 17/18 nov. Clouds 5%. Very bright sky. 7 stars in 6-Per. Time Leon. Oth. sky 00h58m-01h30m 18 2 5% clouds 01h30m-02h00m 19 2 open 02h15m-02h40m 34 2 open 02h45m-03h05m 34 3 open 03h10m-03h25m 30 1 open 03h30m-04h00m 36 1 open 05h20m-05h40m 32 2 open 06h00m-06h40m 25 1 open Tot. 228 14 Magnitude dist. Leonids.17/18.nov. Magn. 0 1 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 5 Tot. N 5 16 71 (7) 97 (2) 30 - 228 General remarks. Leonids came in several times with 2 or 4 together! In one occasion 4 came in Uma. within one second. I strongly felt the impact bodys are in many cases break up before entering the atmosphere. In a few occasions I saw trails longer than 20sec. Moonlight disturb the observation of trails. ____ 19 nov. 20% clouds .Clear sky 9 stars in nr 6 Per. 03h00m-03h30m Leonids Others 5 5 Magnitudes observed Leonids: 4 3 3 2 2. The activity of Leonids in the night of 18/19 November seems fair. F.R. van Loo G.Lambertlaan 52 B3600 Genk Belgium. fransvanlo@be.packardbell.org Phone: +32-89-841130
Casa Helene, Moncarapacho, Portugal
DMS-members Peter Bus, Jaap van 't Leven, Klaas Jobse observing the Leonids 2000
Time in UT ZHR 1 sigma error 0h45m 166 68 1h12m 300 77 2h12m 318 49 2h47m 388 58 3h24m 328 57 3h45m 217 32 4h12m 151 35 4h48m 238 34
Between 01h20m and 1h55m UT cirrus up to 50% in the field of view. (center of FOV around the polar star). Some stops to operate the camera. Average limiting magnitude 6,2. T/eff.= 176 minutes.
Magnitude distribution Leonids -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 total 2 5 9 22 43 85 71 18 255
DMS-members Koen Miskotte, Carl Johannink, Marco Langbroek observing the Leonids 2000
Observer: Koen Miskotte, IMO code MISKO
Location: Almodôvar, Portugal, lat. 37 40' North / lon. 7 55' West
Date Start End Teff N meteors Observing direction 17-11-2000 03:35:00 06:11:00 02:55 98 NW 50 degrees high 18-11-2000 01:18:00 05:54:00 04:44 694 NW 50 degrees high
