Observation report of 1997 Leonids:

---

• Observing site: Dillingham Airfield, N-O OAHU, Hawaii USA

• Sky quality:
  Strong moonlight, sky slightly darker 90deg. from the moon;
  Small scattered cirrus clouds, mostly towards N-W, sky rather hazy
  Naked eye Limit Magnitude between 3.5 and 4.5, depending on
  altitude and direction

  Observations:

  * From nov. 17, 10:00 UT to 15:50 UT

  * Meteors counted between 13:30 UT and 15:45 UT

  * First leonids seen around 11:10 UT

  * Sky watch mostly towards NNE to SSE, mainly after 12:30 UT

  Details:

  TU begin	TU end	Observations
  11:10	~11:45	5-6 bright meteors (m=0 a -4), oranges with green trails, rather slow and low above the horizon
  11:45	~12:20	Few meteors
  12:28	13:10	One bright meteor (m=0 a -3) every 5min.
  13:13	13:16	One meteor (m=2 a -2) every min.
  13:30	13:45	10 meteors: maximum between 13:30 and 13:40
  13:45	14:00	6 meteors
  14:00	14:15	~4 meteors; (some may have been missed
  14:15	14:30	~8 meteors; due to a few minutes of inattention)
  14:30	14:45	6 meteors
  14:45	15:00	6 meteors
  15:00	15:15	8 meteors
  15:15	15:30	4 meteors
  15:30	15:45	6 meteors

  12:58: Brightest leonid: exactly on alpha Hydra, m=-7 a -8, maybe with a double flash, and a persistent trail, seen 2 to 3 min with binoculars;

  14:26: Second brightest meteor, m=-6 a -7, towards East, falling down vertically.

  Aspects and trends:

  11:10 - 13:45 Short, bright leonids, close to radiant (less than 50 deg.) Some colorful and very low (less than 20 deg. altitude)

  Length between 1 and 10 degres, never longer than 20 deg.

  14:00 - 15:45 Fainter and faster meteors still low but farther away from radiant (40 to 70 deg.), less colorful, without trails.

  CONCLUSION:

  Peak activity between 12:30 and 13:40 UT, with many fireballs (m= 0 a -7), up to 15 per hour, and maximum of visible leonids around 40 per hour => peak ZHR may have been on the order of 200 to 300 after corrections.

  ---

  Back to N.Biver's Home Page	Send comments
  	Nicolas Biver - 20 Nov. 1997