Leonids 11/17

by David Richard Smith


I went out and watched for Leonids this morning from 3:30 to 4:30 am PST (1130-1230 UT)from my driveway. At first, there was a cloud straight overhead, but it departed in a few minutes. For over half an hour, I had a perfectly clear sky from Denebola to Rigel, and Sirius to the bowl of the Big Dipper. This was the field I could see through my glasses while keeping my head fixed. Starting at around 4:05, some clouds came rolling through, never covering more than a quarter of this field.

From 3:30 to 4:00, I saw six meteors: three Leonids, two Taurids, and one which I am not sure was Leonid or sporadic. It went from north to south through the sickle of Leo. It started north of the supposed radiant, in Leo Minor, but was fast and bright like the other Leonids.

From 4:00 to 4:30, I saw four meteors, all Leonids.

I'm not sure what the limiting magnitude was. Gamma and Delta Cancri were easy (Mv = 4.66 and 3.94, respectively), but I got only occasional glimpses of Eta and Theta Cancri. I don't know the magnitude of the latter two, but Peterson's plots them in the 4.6 to 5.5 bin. Since Gamma was easy, they must be closer to the 5.5 end. (My personal limiting magnitude is impacted by my faulty eyeglass prescription, which leaves considerable astigmatism.)

This morning, KCBS said that an air traffic controller in Ohio (Cincinnatti?) had been calling the pilots' attention to the spectacular shower of meteors. They didn't say just when that was. It must have been before I was watching.

I plan to head for Coe at midnight tonight. I just called the park to verify that it's okay (I'm sure it is), and got their answering machine. But the greeting noted that it might take them up to a week to get back to me, so I didn't bother leaving a message.