Updated 6.8.2002

Leonid Meteor Rain 18.11.2001 Leonid Meteor Rain 18.11.2001

Leonids peeked at 12:00UT and 18:20UT as Esko Lyytinen predicted. I was watching them in a quite dark place - 500 meters to nearest streetlight - which are luckily only few - and 15 km to a large oil refinery and 20 km to nearest town. Milky Way was bright and clear.

The radiant was 5° below horizon at 18:30UT when first earthgazer rushed from there to zenith. Between 18:30UT and 21:00UT there was some 30 bright ones including few gazers from horizon to horizon thru zenith. Colours were mainly light green but also yellow and red fireballs were seen. I left the site when clouds rolled in but at the next place in Helsinki there was cloudy too so I hit the bed. I heard it cleared soon after local midnight. This is the best meteor show i've ever seen - the leonids in last 3 years before this were all clouded out.

My friends were on a observation trip to Taiwan where there was a real meteor storm seen on a mountaintop as they commented on-line over the telephone and with numerous GSM text messages. But that's an other story they will surely be glad to tell us when they come back home.

Site: Sondby, Porvoo, Finland 60°15'40.3" N, 25°47'36.8" E
Time: Eastern Europen Time zone (UT+02) 18.11.2001
Camera: Canon EOS-1v mounted on a Fujigawa GEM
Lens: Canon EF 20-35mm f/2.8 set at 20mm
Exposures: 2-4 minutes at f/3.5
Film: Fujichrome Sensia slide 400 ASA

Click thumbnails to get larger images.
There's not much to see, just a few faint ones!

mm:hhUT - very small strikes mm:hhUT - hitting Castor
mm:hhUT - a small one again mm:hhUT - fireball to Orion
mm:hhUT - green'n'red for Orion mm:hhUT - horizontal shorty

Finnish Resume

Selostus puhelimitse Taiwanilta oli tosi kovaa tulitusta; bolideja gazereita ja tavallisempaa roinaa oli jatkuvasti taivaalla maksimin aikoihin. 

18.11.2001 Marko Pekkola raportoi tekstiviestitse:

20:32 ZHR voi olla paljon yli6000, lähellä 10000 tai yli

21:27 Taiwanissa ZHR on vielä 1000-2000, ei jyrkkää laskua

23:06 aktiivisuus yhä hämmästyttävän korkea
      radiantti zeniitissä, ny aika paljon kirkkaita

23:23 kovaa tulittusta vielä 21:15UT - Veikko Mäkelä

			-=O=-

Porvoossa oli kirkasta ja kuvasin leonidisadetta, 20:30-23:00 noin 30 kirkasta ja useita gazereita. Sitten tuli pilviä. Ajoin Helsinkiin. Matkalla näkyi vielä kaksi, jotka Hannu Määttänenkin havaitsi Vuosaaressa (40km väliä). Perillä oli pilvistä, joten se siitä ilotulituksesta. Kuulemma kirkastui.

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All material Copyright © Jorma Koski, Anno Mundi 2001