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November 19, 1998: Reports from around the world indicate
that the peak of this year's Leonid meteor shower occurred between
14 and 19 hours earlier than experts had predicted. Sky-watchers
in Europe and the Middle East were treated to a rain of meteors
averaging 250 per hour from 0000 to 1200 Universal Time (UT) November 17. The most
intense activity, according to the International Meteor Organization,
took place between 0000 and 0330 UT when an average of 490 meteors
per hour were seen by experienced meteor watchers. Right: A Leonid fireball photographed by Schindler Leung in Hong Kong at 1900 UT, 16 November 1998. The Leonids peak, about 6 hrs after this photograph was taken, was preceded by a flurry of activity rich in bright meteors and fireballs, some brighter than -10 magnitudes. |
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Meteor watchers from six continents have sent hundreds of emails to Science@NASA reporting Leonid meteor counts. At the time this story is being prepared, the morning of November 19th, reports are still pouring in at a rate of over 30 per hour. That's about the rate of fireballs observed during the Leonid peak. Two groups of experienced observers, one in Israel and one in France, were well-positioned to confirm enhanced activity between 0000 and 0500 UT. |
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Ofek Eran of the Wise Observatory in Mitzpe-Ramon Israel reported that he and 4 other sky-watchers counted a peak rate of 624 +/- 122 Leonid meteors per hour near 0230 UT. Brett Gladman led another team at the Observatoire de Nice in France. They counted 300 meteors in a 45 minute period, and estimated a minimum zenithal hourly rate of 450 per hour at 0500 UT on November 17th. Sky conditions were excellent at both observatories, with limiting magnitudes near 6. Reports of 2000 meteors per hour over the Canary Islands were
attributed to British astronomers in some news stories yesterday.
It appears that fewer meteors were actually observed, and that
2000 per/hr was the sum of rates obtained by several observers.
Other sky-watchers on the Canary Islands reported a smaller number,
closer to 250 per hour. |
Web Links | |
Leonids Live! - images and video from the 1998 Leonid meteor storm Meteor counts - submit your own meteor counts to NASA! 1998 Leonids Data Bank -- a useful summary of Leonids information from NASA Ames. The November Leonids: Will they Roar? -- Predictions from JPL Eyewitness accounts of the 1966 storm -- an Ames Research Center Archive NASA's Office of Space Science - press releases and other news related to NASA and astrophysics |
Related Stories: Great Expectations: the 1998 Leonids Meteor Shower -- the basics of the Leonid meteors. Includes eyewitness accounts from the great 1966 storm and observing hints for 1998. Halley's comet returns in bits and pieces -- story posted Oct 20 on the Orionid meteor shower Tune-up for the Leonids - story posted Oct 7, discusses the astronomy of the Giacobinids External Links: The Leonids -- from Gary Kronk Meteors and Comets web site |
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