Leonid Report

by Art Perrin

Sorry so late just got back. We went up Mount Shasta on Everett Mem. Highway to the old ski bowl parking lot around 10:30 Saturday evening. Sky was super clear and steady. Weather on the other hand was near low 20's we bundled up and got comfortable for the show. Many people showed up and left quickly because of the temperature.

We saw numerouse meteors somewhere around 30 or so but we started counting Leonids at 1:30. Between 1:30 and 230 we saw 174! Many left trails that lingered for some time, one in particular left a long lasting trail for 5 or more minutes. This meteor was different because for lack of a better explanation it seemed to come staight at us from the east just getting brighter like an approaching plane and then veered down and left a short (in comparison) trail. It also grew in apparent magnitude. We also saw lots of flashes that I would contribute to other meteors that were occuring around us out of our direct field of view.

We saw one meteor start off as one then break up into two distinct pieces leaving a "Y" in the sky. Many meteors were 3 or 4 parallel in lines. Some seemed to skip across the sky leaving a trail then nothing then a trail in the same direction of travel but a little forward. This was by far the best time I have had watching meteors, unfortunatley the sky clouded over with high clouds at around 2:30 and we left.