2010 Leonids

[MeteorWayne]

Not a spectacular year, which is why I haven't mentioned it.

From the IMO:
http://www.imo.net/live/leonids2010/
Remember this is raw non-QA'd observations...

ZHRmax = 20 based on 401 Leonids reported in 177 intervals, assuming population index r = 2.0
Data has been received from 36 observers in 17 countries. Thank you for your efforts!

I've only seen 20 in 11.70 hours

MW

PS, Next up is the best shower of the year, the Geminids. Between the high rate, crisp winter skies, and long night, you can easily rack up over 500 meteors if you wish.... so far my total for the year is only 142 meteors in 19.59 hours. The activity period is Dec 7-17 with a peak Dec 13-14... I'll start a thread on that in early December.

 

[bdewoody]

Re: 2010 Geminids

It was foggy here in central Florida both early mornings of the peak. I didn't see any earlier on either night before the fog set in.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: 2010 Geminids

Did you mean to post this in the Leonids thread? Methinks you did, so I moved it

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes it was cloudy and rainy here for the peak mornings as well...but you can't fight mother nature, and it's not worth driving for hours for 10-15 meteors an hour.

I watched 4 mornings before the peak (mornings of the 11,12,13, and 14) and two after (mornings of the 18 and 19).

Total observing time 11.7 hours, total 75 meteors. 41 sporadics, 20 Leonids, 9 Northern Taurids, and 1 each from 5 other showers. My highest total meteor rate was only 7.3/hr; the best Leonid rate a mere 3.5/hr.

As for the non-cloudy worldwide Leonids, ZHR 20 peaks were reported at ~ 0500 UTC on the 17th, and 0400 UT on the 18th (my 18th session started at 0917 UTC, about 5 hours later, after moonset). The ZHR exceeded 15 between about 0100 UTC on the 17th and 1200 on the 18th.

ZHR is the standard rate under very dark skies ( quite rare in the US), with the radiant at the zenith. Under most circumstances, the observed rate will be lower...under my moderately light polluted skies, it is typically less than half the ZHR for most showers, and sometimes only a third.

Over the last 5 years, I've only logged 76 Leonids (compared to 601 Orionids, one of the Halley's comet showers in October, 470 Perseids from comet Swift-Tuttle, and 1072 sporadics). Back in 2001, I saw almost 1000 Leonids in one morning....that was a show!!

MW