Re: [APML] Leonids

[Robert Reeves <reeves10@swbell.net>]

Central Texas wasn't too bad for meteors either.  I went about 30 miles
northwest of San Antonio and set up there.  It was totally overcast when I
got up at 2 AM, but the infrared satellite image showed the edge of the
thick band of clouds crossing Texas was just north of me, so I went anyway.
Sure enough, it cleared off where I was but I could see San Antonio was
still in the thick of the cloud band.  Just a few miles made the difference.

The meteors seemed to peak a little after 4:40 CST.  They were in bursts.  I
would see five or six in a few seconds, then nothing for a while, then
another burst.  Most were first magnitude or less with brief trains, but
around 5 CST there were a few spectacular fireballs.  No long-lived trains
though.  Overall, I saw probably 200 meteors between 3:30 and 5:30 CST.
That in itself is not better than previous uncloudy Leonids I have seen, but
the frequency of meteors during the bursts was impresive.

I had six cameras runing and I think most meteors managed to avoid my field
of view.  I'm pretty sure I did bag one bright one though.  We shall see.  I
was using 400 speed color negative film with 2 minute exposures at f/1.4.
The transparency was great, so I don't think the moon will be a problem with
that exposure length.

Hope everyone else did OK also.

Robert Reeves                      reeves10@swbell.net
520 Rittiman Rd.                   www.robertreeves.com
San Antonio, Texas 78209    210-828-9036
USA                                     29.484  98.440  200 meters


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