From: pauld@exploratorium.edu
Date: Sun Nov 18 2001 - 17:23:23 PST
Message-Id: <200111190123.fAJ1NNs02173@isaac.exploratorium.edu> From: pauld@exploratorium.edu Subject: Leonid Meteor Storm! Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 01:23:23 GMT
Pinhole report on the Leonid meteor storm from Paul Doherty.
I was viewing it from 20 miles east of Hollister at an elevation 2000 feet in the
middle of nowhere. I had a dark sky.
The Leonid meteor storm last night was awesome. One of the finest spectacles I
have ever
seen in the sky, (just short of a total solar eclipse!)
Meteors streaked across the sky at rates of over one a second, they were bright
and they left
trails behind them. Many times there would be two or three in the sky at the same
time, in
one two second interval there were 8! There were three "flashbulbs," A.K.A.
bolides, that
exploded in a bright flash at the end of their track. I could see my shadow on
the ground by
bolide flash. Three left trails behind that lasted for over a minute, the trails
were twisted into
comma shapes by high altitude winds.
They radiated out from Leo. It was like driving through the central valley on a
spring night
when large bugs streak past illuminated by your headlights. I finally got the
sense of the
earth racing through space.
The storm lasted from 1 AM with high rates between 2 and 3 AM and ended at 3:30
AM.
I am short on sleep but really jazzed by finally seeing a meteor storm.
Paul Doherty
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